Real Heros wear Dog Tags Retold
by Nightfury991
Summary: Improved version of oohrah15's version. When the diptheria outbreak failed to happen, Balto never became a hero. But when America got involved in WW2, Balto got the job of tracker dogs, and he and his new friends must go to Hell and back to defend a country that, before now, wanted him dead.
1. Chapter 1

_Real Hero's wear Dog Tags, not Championship Collars – Re-written_

_Chapter 1:_

As the Second World War continues to rage on in Europe, in the Alaskan town of Nome, it was becoming increasingly apparent the America knew that it couldn't continue to be neutral in the War for much longer. But the townspeople tried to get on with their daily business, while tuning in on to get any updates on the War via radio.

On a long abandoned fishing boat just beyond the border of Nome, a canine started to wake from his slumber: this was Balto, a wolf/dog that had little memory of his younger life, and was constantly neglected by the dogs and the people of Nome just for his wolf side. True, Balto had never actually hurt anyone, but the people still feared him and they always threatened him with guns and knives. But, Balto had to go into town: it was his only source of food.

Yawning loudly, which almost sounded like a howl, Balto shook off his tattered and worn blanket and started to walk down the plank that leaned on the side of his boat, but was stopped by a voice. "And just vhere to you think you're going?" asked a thick Russian accent. Chuckling and shaking his head, Balto replied, "Clam down, Borris: I'm get going to get something to eat." Borris, who was a goose, had found Balto when he was young and had been like a father to him ever since. Turning around, Balto saw Borris wore a worried/annoyed look playing across his face.

"Just remember to stay of the townspeople's: and don't forget to look out for Steele, or any of his goons." Balto mentally cringed at the mention of that name: Steele, a pure-breed Siberian Husky had been tormenting Balto ever since he had first stepped into Nome: he had received many a bit, scratch and broken bones for that one dog, and all because he was part wild animal. Sighing, Balto replied, "I'll keep that in mind: see ya later." And with that, the wolf/dog jumped off the boat, landed softly on the snowy beach, and started to make his was towards Nome, hoping there would be some good meat outside of the Butchers shop.

Meanwhile, in the heart of Nome, another canine was waking up from a dreamless sleep: this one, however, was a pure bred Husky. The Huskies fur was brick red on the top, and it stopped at the top of her head, and the rest of her was covered by the palest cream you could imagine; her neck, however, was covered by a dim orange bandana. The Huskies name was Jenna, and as she woke up, an American voice came from the radio, to give the daily report on the War. _"Hitler continued to bomb the English capital, London, it an attempt to crushed British resistance...President Roosevelt insists on staying out of this...raging War, but...but how long can America remain a neutral country in this apparent never-ending War?"_ asked the man on the radio, tiredness evident in his tone.

Sighing angrily, Jenna's owner, a woman named Caroline, said, "I've heard enough of this," and switched off the radio. "Oh, I hope that horrible War stops soon," said Caroline's young daughter, Rosie, said to her parents. Sighing, Jenna thought, _I've heard enough of this human War, _and got up and walked out of the house. Since she had nothing else to do, Jenna made her way towards the abandoned Workhouse: the place for dogs them to hang out and talk to each other. On the way there, Jenna ran into two friends of hers: Dixie, a Pomeranian, and Sylvie, an Afghan Hound.

"Hey there, Jenna," the two said in unison, to which Jenna replied grimly, "Hey, girls." Curious about their friends tone, Dixie asked, "What's wrong Jenna?" Sighing, Jenna said, "Have you heard the radio talking about that War? It's horrible!" Nodding her head, Sylvie replied, "I heard my humans talking about it: it sounded terrible." Jenna was about to say something else, but there conversation was cut short by a man's angry shouts. Turning around, the saw a brown blur running away from the Butcher. "And stay away from here, you useless mutt!" shouted the Butcher, waving his meat clever angrily at Balto. Once Balto had stopped to catch his breath, Jenna saw that he managed to grab a medium sized scrap and was about to rip some off when a great mass of black and white fur stood in front of him.

"Get out of here, half-breed, before I make you," growled the husky, baring his teeth at Balto. Scared out of his wit, Balto ran around the husky and ran as fast as he could towards the outskirts and to his boat. "Steele!" shouted Jenna, walking up to said Husky, "why are you so cruel to Balto?" Steele turned to face Jenna, and replied, "Because, dear Jenna, Balto is a wild animal." Disgusted, Jenna said, "So what? Balto still has Husky blood inside him!"

"That doesn't matter Jenna," interrupted Dixie, stopping momentarily to flash her eyes at Steele, "Balto's still a wild animal: who knows what he can do to us?" Steele smiled menacingly, and said, "Exactly, Dixie," to which Dixie's body shook and fell onto the ground, her tongue flopping out of her mouth. "Besides, don't you remember when he attacked me that one night?" Jenna sighed: she remembered. Balto, apparently, went berserk and attacked Steele, leaving him severely scarred and with a broken leg. But Jenna knew that Steele had started by insulting Balto's mother. "That was because you insulted him!"

Steele chuckled, and said, "And your point is?" Jenna, completely disgusted, said, "You treat him like he's the lowest form of life on the Earth!" But Steele replied, "That's only because he IS the lowest form of life on Earth." He gave a Jenna one final smile, and he walked away towards his house. "Jenna," started Sylvie, "do you have a thing for Balto?" Shaking her head, Jenna replied, "No...it's just that...I don't think it's right to pick on him, just because he's part wolf!" She then looked at the other two with pity in her eyes, "and if you two had hearts, you would know too." And with that, she walked home.

Meanwhile, Balto, who had been forced to drop his find so he could get away quicker, was walking back to his boat, thinking about what had just happened. _Why is Steele like this? I HATE him!_ He thought, as he walked up the plank of his boat. "Didn't I warn you to stay away from him?" asked Borris, folding his wings in front of his body. "It's not my fault, Borris! He started first!" shouted Balto, and he stopped to calm himself down. "What can I do to prove to everyone that I'm not dangerous?" he asked. Sighing, Borris walked up to Balto and lifted his head up with his wing. "The answer will come in time, boy chick: the answer will come in time." Sighing, Balto walked up to his blanket and lifted it up and over him, and let sleep overcame him.

At the same time, Steele was at his house, along with three other dogs: one was covered in brown fur; the second one was covered in a tanned colour, and the third was covered in grey fur. "Hey, good job, boss! You're the wittiest, the smartest, the most hilarious..." the tan chinnok named Kaltag tried to say, but was interrupted by the grey furred husky called Star shouted, "You're the best!" Once he had said that, Kaltag smacked him on the head: he found it SO annoying when Star finished his sentences. "So boss: do youse think that half-breed gonna come back?" asked the brown furred Husky called Nikki.

"I hope he does: I could do with a little sport," Steele growled, flexing his claws and flashing his teeth, causing the others to laugh hysterically. Nikki looked out the window, and saw that it was starting to get darker. "Oh, it's getting darker: I better get home," said Nikki, and he, along with Kaltag and Star, bid goodbye to Steele. Just before he fell asleep, his eyes flashed at the calendar, and it read:

_December 6__th__, 1941_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

As the Huskies woke up, they all saw their owners crying, blowing their noses with rather damp looking handkerchiefs and once some of them saw the newspaper for today, they understood why: there had been an attack on a Navy base, leaving over a thousand American soldiers dead or seriously injured. The dogs knew that it was a great lost to their owners, but they thought that they would get over it easily. But as they walked around Nome, they saw how badly they were affected.

"I can't believe it: all those men and women at that base!" some heard a woman make out in between her hiccups and her blowing her nose. "This attack won't go unanswered!" shouted a man who was standing outside the post office, while other men were gathering around him. "I'm gonna join the army the next chance I get. Who's with me?" To this, most of the men who were gathered around him cheered in agreement. "Quiet: the President is about to speak!" said the postman, a man named Mr. Thompson, as he turned up the radio for the people on the outside to hear.

"_December 7__th__ 1941: a day that brought great sorrow to our nation...The United States of America was purposely attack last night by the Naval and Air forces of Japan on an American Naval Base..."_ the President said over the radio, the slightest bit of anger trying to fight its way into his speech. By this point, the dogs had found places to sit and listen to their own radio. The President sighed, before saying, _"I regret to inform that over 3000 Americans...have lost their lives."_ Several of the women listening burst into sudden tears, and the men here started to shout angrily at the radio. "Oh no," said Jenna sadly. "This is terrible: just terrible," agreed Sylvie, shaking her head in shock.

"Please, please: don't go to War," whispered Jenna, her eyes starting to well up. _"Because of the uncalled for attack by Japan, I am forced to declare War on Japan and her allies." No, please, no,_ thought Jenna, as her tears finally started to run down her face. "I really hope me owner doesn't go there," said one dog, fearfully. "Same here," said a small terrier. "I don't think we can stop our humans from going: there going because they want to," said Jenna through the tears. Dixie looked at her, shocked, and asked, "Why would they want to do that?" Jenna explained, "It's because they want to protect their homes and families." "Oh, I hope they don't go," said Dixie, a tear running down her face.

Meanwhile, just a few roads away from where Jenna and the rest of the dogs were, Balto and Borris had found their way into town and were now currently looking at today's newspaper, with the headline reading, _America declares War on Japan and its Allies._ "I can't believe this," said Balto, shaking his head in shock. "Well," said Balto, turning to face Borris, "looks like we're in this War now." Borris started to wave his wings in front of him, and said, "No, no, no: you and me are staying out of this! This is a human War, not ours." Balto shook his head in confusion, and started, "Yeah, but..."

But Borris cut him off, "NO BUTS" he yelled, crossing his wings in front of him, "besides: they don't let dogs joined the army anyway." Balto smirked, and said, "Dogs, yes: but they didn't say anything about half-breeds." Borris sighed, and pinched the top of his beak with two of his feathers and said, "Balto, who could you possibly want to protect by going into the Army? They're all been so cruel to you!" Balto looked up to Borris, and said a just one word, "Jenna," before he turned around and ran towards the centre of town.

Meanwhile, in Jenna's house, raised voices could be heard from outside. "ARE YOU COMPLETELY CRAZY!" shouted Caroline to her husband, a man called Johnson. "I'm sorry, but I have to go: if I don't go, who will?" he asked. "You've seen those photos of battlefields: the dead soldiers all lined up; all those wounded survivors...Why on EARTH would you want to go through with THAT!" Caroline screamed at him. Johnson sighed, and said, "Look, there's a draft happening, so even if I didn't want to join, I'll have to: besides, I have to do this, to protect my country...and you." He then bent down to give Rosie a hug, and she said, "Daddy, please: don't go." Johnson sighed again, and stroked a finger against his daughter's cheek, and said, "Listen, if I don't go, then the bad guys will come here and hurt everyone in Nome, and I can't let that happen."

Rosie was about to say something else when a knock came from the front door. "Wait here," said Johnson to his daughter, standing up and walking towards the door. A man with a thick brown bead stood there, wearing an Army hat, along with the rank of Sergeant printed onto the left sleeve of his grey overcoat. "Good morning, sir," the man said, "my name is Gunnery Sergeant Will Hunt: I'm here to recruit men for the US Army." Johnson saluted him and said, "Well then, sign me up, sir." Sgt Hunt nodded and said, "You're doing your country a great favour, sir, but I have one more question to ask you sir." Curious, Johnson asked, "And what is that, sir?"

"The Army need dogs to help sniff out Nazi soldiers and spies, and I understand that Nome has rather large dog population." Johnson said, "But there all sled dogs: they can't possibly fight fully trained soldiers and attack dogs!" Caroline then spoke up, "Wait a minute, there's a wolf/dog in Nome, what's his name...Balto!" Sgt Hunt, now curious, asked, "A wolf/dog, eh? That's exactly what we need. He'll be the town hero, no doubt? Do you know where he is?" "Um, he's a stray, Sergeant," replied Johnson. Sgt Hunt chuckled, and said, "A stray? That makes it much better: his senses should be better tuned than the average house dog. How often does he come into town?" Checking his wristwatch, Johnson replied, "He'll be coming about now to find some lunch."

As Balto made his way through the alleyways of Nome, he caught a glimpse of a long line of men waiting to sign themselves up to join the Army. But as he looked around, he saw a sight that broke his heart: it was Jenna, her beautiful face slightly ruined by tear lines running down her face. Concerned, Balto trotted up to her and asked, "Jenna, are you OK? What's wrong?" When Jenna looked and she knew it was him, she flung herself at him and cried heavily onto his shoulder. "Oh, Balto: Rosie's father's going to that horrible War," she mumbled through her tears and his fur. Balto shuffled nervously: he had had a bit of a crush on Jenna ever since he saw her, but he had never been this close to her before.

"What did I say about coming into my town, half-breed?" came a voice from around a corner: it was Steele. Growling angrily at him, Balto said, "Beat it, you self-centred jerk." Steele, momentarily, leaned back in shock: Balto had never insulted him before. But, then again, it would be his dying words... "Oh, tough guy. How about we settle it, right here, right now, lobo," said Steele, growling at Balto and showing his teeth. "Ah, there he is," said another voice that stopped the three canines. Around the opposite corner that Steele came around, came Sgt Hunt and Johnson, now wearing a brown overcoat. "Are you sure you won't consider Steele?" asked Johnson, pointing at the black and white Husky.

Sgt Hunt laughed heartily, and said, "Johnson, no offence, but the Army needs tough tracker dogs, not fancy sled dogs that do the opposite of what you do in battle: they don't fight, they run." Growling angrily at the human insult, Steele purposely stood on Balto's front paw, causing the wolf/dog to bare his teeth at the Sergeant and growl in pain. "Did you see that? He snapped at you: he can't be trusted!" said Johnson, walking up until he was level with Sgt Hunt, who had taken a few steps forward to examine Balto. But the Sergeant was smiling, and he said, "Are you kidding? This is perfect: he won't hesitate to kill a Nazi when he spots one." Scratching the top of Balto's head, Hunt asked, "What do ya say, boy? Do you want to fight for freedom?" To this, Balto barked in response. Sgt Hunt smiled, "Good boy. I'll pick you up for training tomorrow."

As Hunt and Johnson walked away, Jenna asked, "Balto, please don't tell me your actually going through with this?" Steele, angered by the humans chose Balto over him, said, "Of course he's not going to! He's just a cowardly half-breed!" Balto, a smirk playing across his face, said, "Excuse me, I believe they want 'tough tracker dogs, not fancy sled dogs." Growling menacingly, Steele said, "If this War doesn't kill you, lobo, then I WILL." And with that, he turned tail and left, leaving a determined Balto and a shocked Jenna. "Balto, please tell me you don't actually want to go," Jenna whispered, tears starting to form in her eyes again.

Balto sighed, and said, "What's the point in worrying, Jenna? Everybody in this town wants me dead: no one likes me." Jenna, completely shocked, gasped, "That's not true Batlo!" to which Balto gave her a confused look. Balto then asked, "Ok, name one other person, other than Borris, that care's for me?" But the moment those words left his mouth, Jenna blurted out, "I care for you!" Balto, completely stunned by what she had just said, was about to say something when Jenna flung herself at him for the second the time today, tears running down her face. She mumbled, "I don't want you to go," as she nuzzled his neck fur.

Sighing, Balto stroked the back of her head soothing, and said, "Hey, hey, hey, it's alright, Jenna. Hopefully, you'll be about to visit me." Jenna looked up at him with a hopeful expression and asked, "Really?" Balto smiled warmly, and added, in a comforting tone, "And don't worry, I'll make sure that I come back alive." Balto then looked up to the sun: it was about five o'clock. "Listen, Jenna, I've really got to get going: I need a decent night's sleep for tomorrow." Though secretly, he didn't want to leave Jenna in this sort of state.

Sighing, Jenna gave the wolf/dog a final nuzzle and said, "Alright, then. Goodnight, Balto." Smiling, Balto nuzzled her back and started to trot back to his boat. After a few minutes' walk, Balto arrived at his boat, and saw Borris mopping the wooden floor of the boat, and Muk and Luk, two polar bears that Balto had befriended, sleeping in the cabin. "Ah, boychic, you vinally managed to vind your vay home," said Borris, putting the mop back into the bucket. Balto didn't respond: he was too busy thinking about how he should break it to Borris that he had joined the Army. Sensing something was wrong, Borris asked, "Uh, Balto? Is something wrong?" Aware Borris was speaking to him, Balto chuckled nervously and replied, "Um, uh, no... Just that, I've joined the Army," he said the last part quickly, hoping Borris would understand it. He did.

Borris stood there, mouth agape, looking at Balto. "Uh, Borris are you OK?" asked Balto, looking at the frozen goose. The next moment, Borris broke out into a fit of Russian curses. "_Идиот! __Дура!_ Why would you do something like that?" Borris shouted in Balto's face. Sighing, Balto waited until Borris to a moment to breath before saying, "Look, I want to something with my life, Borris, even if it means that there's a slight chance that I might be killed." Borris was about to speak again, but he stopped and

Sighed: he knew when Balto wanted to do something, he was persistent. "OK, OK Balto, I know you're not a pup anymore, so I guess that you're old enough to decide what you want to do with your life." Balto smiled at the old goose, and said, "Thank you, Borris: I'll see you in the morning." And with that, Balto went below decks to a pile of blankets that he used when Muk and Luk stayed the night. Crawling underneath a tattered and torn brown blanket, Balto closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, all was not well in Nome. Well, the dog population of Nome, anyway. Steele, completely infuriated by the humans choosing Balto over him to defend his country, was on a rampage through the abandoned warehouse were the dogs met, taking his anger out on the fellow dogs. "HOW COULD THEY?" Steele shouted, the other dogs shrinking back in fear that he might turn on them. "HOW COULD THEY CHOSE THEY MUTT OF A WOLF OVER ME?" he shouted again, swatting a bone again the wall angrily. "Steele, why would you want to go into War anyway?" asked Jenna, shocked to how Steele was reacting to Balto being chosen over him to serve and get killed.

"I can't believe that Balto actually took the job," said Kaltag, receiving several angry glares from the dogs surrounding him. "He might actually die," muttered Sylvie, the ever so slightest hint of shock and sadness trying to fight its way into her voice. "Hey, if he does, he won't be any of our problems anymore," shouted a husky, causing the entire room to burst out in laughter. "DON'T YOU ALL HEAR YOURSELVES!" shouted Jenna, getting up and facing the other dogs, "BALTO IS GOING TO FIGHT FOR US, AND YOU ALL WANT HIM DEAD? NONE OF YOU HAVE HEARTS!" Whimpering, all the dogs shrunk back in fear: none of them had ever heard Jenna shout like that before.

"W-Well, when you put it that way..." said the husky who said about Balto not being their problem. "Yeah, he does have some guts to go out there," said another husky closer to Jenna. "Are you kidding? He's nothing! He's a stupid stray! A bet you he runs away at the first sight of trouble!" shouted Steele, still fuming about the humans comments. Disgusted by Steele's last comment, Jenna walked up to him and slapped him hard in the muzzle, leaving three thin claw marks. "You are sick, Steele!" she shouted, before storming out and down the street towards her house, thinking about how Balto was feeling.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Waking up from a dream tainted with Jenna, Balto stood up from the blankets in the hull of the ship. Stretching his legs, Balto hopped out of a hole in the side of the ship. He then noticed the sun was about halfway between sun up and midday. _I'd better get to meet Hunt,_ thought Balto, and started towards Nome, hoping to find food, or Sgt Hunt, or whatever he found first. As he made his way towards the centre of Nome, he passed many humans and their dogs, some of them giving him a look of respect; something they had never done before. Then, he saw Sgt Hunt coming out of the post office, saying goodbye to Mr. Simpson.

"Thanks for delivering my letter, Mr. Simpson," said Sgt Hunt, waving to the post office owner. "You're welcome, Sergeant," said Mr. Simpson. Hunt walked a few feet before he heard a bark, and looked down to find Balto looking up at him, wagging his tail and a small smile on his face. Smiling, Sgt Hunt said, "There ya are, boy," and patting Balto on the head. "Your training area is on the other side of Nome. All the other dogs that have been chosen to be tracker dogs will be here; it helps them become stronger against the elements, so you'd better be ready to interact with other dogs." Flattening his ears, Balto let out a whinge of discomfort: he wasn't very keen about being so close to dogs in such short of time.

Seeing the wolf/dog like this, Sgt Hunt said, "Hey, it's alright boy, you'll get use to them." Hearing the Sergeants comment, Balto barked in response, ready to meet the other dogs. "Alright then, let's get going," said Hunt, walking the opposite direction that Balto came. Balto was hesitant at first: he wanted to go and find Jenna before he went to learn whatever they did at tracker dog training. But, after a little encouragement from Sgt Hunt, Balto followed him and decided to go find Jenna later. After a few minutes' walking, they arrived at a newly built training ground: it had a large line of dog houses along one side of the complex, and on the other side, there was a large training course spread out across the remaining side of the area. _The trainers must be staying somewhere in Nome, _thought Balto.

Once they had entered the fence that prevented the dogs from escaping, they entered the closest building, an office, and Sgt Hunt started filling in papers that was required to make Balto a legal tracker dog. After a few minutes of pen scribbling, Balto was given a black padded vest and a pair of dog tags that hung loosely around his neck. They then exited the office, and walked down the line of dog houses until they came to one that said _'Doghouse 4' _painted on the front and a large door opened to reveal the inside. "You get comfortable now, boy, you got a lot of training to get through," said Sgt Hunt, patting Balto's head on last time and walked off. When Sgt Hunt was out of sight, Balto entered the dog house and looked around. He spotted that there were four blankets spread across the area of the floor, so Balto guessed that he was sharing with three other dogs for a while.

He then heard a voice come from outside the dog house, "Hello? Is there anyone in there?" Balto responded, "Yeah, come in." Moments later, a German Shepherd walked in: he had dark brown eyes and was covered in brown and black fur. "Hey there, my name's Bruto and looks like I'm gonna be your roommate for the next couple of weeks," said Bruto, looking curiously at Balto. Ignoring the looks, Balto said, "Hey, I'm Balto. So, where do you come from, Bruto?" Wearing a friendlier look, Bruto answered, "I'm from Chicago, and you?"

"In the town next to us," said Balto, gesturing with his head to Nome. Bruto whistled, and said, "Whoa, so you live close." The two were interrupted by two more voices that came from outside their doghouse. "Whoo we! It's colder than one of Mama's iced teas buried six feet under in the snow!" came a voice that had a thick southern accent. An annoyed growl came from the other voice, and then the voice said, "I swear, if I hear ONE more analogy from you, I'm gonna-" The second voice was interrupted by the first one saying, "Ah, _Doghouse Number 4_, here we go." Then, two dogs came into view of Bruto and Balto: one was a Golden Retriever with dark green eyes, and the other was a Rottweiler that had brown eyes that were a few shades lighter than Bruto. "Hey," said Balto and Bruto.

"Huh, what do you know? We've got bunkmates," said the Golden Retriever, looking at Balto and Bruto. Looking annoyed, the Rottweiler said, "Really(!) Well, congratulations, Sherlock(!)" He then looked at Bruto and Balto, and asked, "So, where're youze guys called?" Balto and Bruto answered, "Bruto and Balto." "My name's Tony, and I'm from the Big Apple, New Yawk," said the Rottweiler, and pointing at the Golden Retriever, said, "And, this here, is Buddy from Houston, Texas." Smiling, Buddy said, "Pleasure to ya both." There was then an awkward silence for a short while, before Bruto asked, "So, uh, do you guys know what we're suppose to do first?"

His question was answered by a voice that came from outside, shouting, "ALRIGHT, YOU BUNCH OF MAGGOTS! FORMATION, NOW!" Wasting no time, the three dogs and wolf/dog ran out of their doghouse and into the empty area of the compound, which was already occupied by about another twenty-odd dogs. The voice they heard came from a bulky British bulldog, who was standing at the front of the formation. The Bulldog shouted, "Listen up, you cockroaches, my name Colonel Tank and I will be you Senior Drill Instructor for your time in training. Do you maggots understand me?!" The dogs replied, "Sir, yes sir!"

"I can't hear you!" shouted Tank, causing the other dogs to shout out, "SIR, YES SIR!" Tank then said, "That's better, but since you failed to do it the first time...10 MILES! START RUNNING!" All the dogs groaned in response to that command, and Tank shouted, "YOUR COMPLAINING JUST ADDED ANOTHER 10 MILES!" All the dogs shut up from that point on, and Balto thought, _well, this is gonna suck._ After running to what seemed to the ends of the Earth, swimming in minus 15 degree water, sparring with the other dogs, and getting yelled and screamed at by a drill-crazed dog, Balto, Bruto, Tony and Buddy all collapsed in their doghouse, panting and tongues hanging out.

"Oy vay, that's probably the longest time I've spent running," panted Bruto, taking a gasp of breath every few words. "You're telling me- Ah, ah! I think I pulled a muscle!" said Buddy, lifting up his right hind leg up in pain. "I don't think we'll survive 12 weeks of this; and today was an easy day too," muttered Tony, stretching out his front legs. Standing normally again, Tony looked at Balto and asked, "So, Balto, what dog breed are you? It's just that, I don't really recognise you." Balto sighed, and thought, _I knew it'd come up eventually,_ and looked at the others, who were all looking at him with curiosity. Balto sighed again, and said, "Well, I'm part husky and...part wolf," saying the last part quickly. Balto looked up at the others, who had their eyes wide open, and their lower mouth had hit the floor. Balto lowered his ears to the back of his head, and said, "Yeah, I know, I'm a freak, there's no need to rub it in deeper."

But then, Bruto shouted, "Balto, that's awesome!" At this, Balto perked his ears up and said, "Really? Y-You don't mind me being part wolf?" Buddy chipped in by saying, "'Course not! I wish I was part wolf!" Tony walked forward and said, "Heck, if I was part wolf, I could run every street in Brooklyn and not break a sweat!" Balto smiled, but then frowned as he said, "Where I come from, the humans and dogs hate me for being part wolf." Bruto shook his head, and said, "That's a real shame, 'cause wolves are darn good animals." Just then, Tank's voice rang through then air, saying, "ALRIGHT, MAGGOTS, IF ANY OF YOY TALK ONE MORE TIME, I'LL GIVE YOU WHAT FOR!"

"Ah, crap! Better get some shut eye. 'Night, fellas!" said Bruto as the others lied down, he pushed the door close that they had opened, and he too then fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 3 and a half

Chapter 4

_Twelve weeks later_

It had been twelve weeks since Balto, Bruto, Tony and Buddy started their tracker dog training. Over this period of time, Balto's body had become much more muscular and toned than it had been in a long time. Balto was amazed that this group of mildly-talented dogs had been rebuilt into lean, mean fighting machine. They had also learnt how to know the difference in scent between an American soldier and a Nazi. Finally, their final day of training had arrived, and the plan was for the dogs to march through the centre street of Nome before they finally graduated. Since early in the morning, the people of Nome had started to gather all along the main street of Nome, hoping to get a good spot to see the first-rate tracker dogs. "Look, here they come!" shouted Kaltag, pointing to the group of tracker dogs that had started their march.

"I LOVE WORKING FOR UNCLE SAM!" shouted Tank, to which the other dogs repeated, "I LOVE WORKING FOR UNCLE SAM!" Tank then shouted, "HE HELPS ME KNOW JUST WHO I AM!" and the dogs repeated again, "HE HELPS ME KNOW JUST WHO I AM!" With the tracker dogs just a few metres away from them, Jenna, Dixie and Sylvie walked through the wall of people, until they got to the front on the line and saw the dogs going past. Jenna then caught a glimpse of Balto, who was in the middle of the platoon, and she blushed heavily when she saw him looking at him. But Balto didn't have time to get a good look at Jenna, because Tank trotted next to him, and shouted, "BATLO, WHAT IN DOG'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Balto was quiet for a second, before saying, "Sir, I'm sorry, sir." But Tank was having none of it, as he said, "BULLCRAP! IF YOU STEP OUT OF LINE ONE MORE TIME, YOU'RE GONNA REGRET IT!" Balto responded by saying, "Sir, yes sir."

After that, Balto stayed quiet and avoided everyone's eye for the short time left that they were marching. Finally, they made it past the end of the street, to which the crowd burst out in applause. Balto sighed in triumph: he had finally become a soldier. Once all the other dogs had dispersed, Balto spotted Jenna in the crowd, and started walking towards her. Jenna then looking up, and saw that Balto was walking towards her. Blushing deeply under her fur, Jenna quickly looked over Balto's new body: she could see muscles hidden away under his rough wolf fur. But the thing Jenna liked most about Balto was his eyes: those deep yellow orbs that seemed to draw you in.

"Jenna," Balto said, smiling as he stopped in front of her. Jenna blushed, and trying not to meet his eyes, stuttered, "Balto, I-I-I...He-e-" But she was cut short by Steele and a few other dogs walking up and saying, "Well, well, well, look who it is: Private Balto." Steele's gang laughed loudly at Steele's comment. "Steele, your no match for me now: leave now, before I do something I might regret." Steele bared his fangs, and said, "Don't you think that just because you've put on an army uniform that everybody's going to like you now." Another husky called out, "Yeah, you only joined so you could get in with Jenna." After that was said, several voices called out at once, saying things like, "Lobo!" and "Half-breed!" and also "Moon howler!"

"I wouldn't continue if I was in your paws," warned Tony, with Bruto and Buddy coming up to support Balto. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" shouted Buddy, snarling slightly. Smiling slightly before showing his teeth, Balto said, "I could do with the exercise, guys." With that, the dogs immediately backed off: all four of the dogs in front of them looked stronger and bigger than them. To the gang following steal, Tony was the most intimidating, what with his being bigger than Steele. "Oh yeah, and just what are you going to do about it," snarled Steele, looking up slightly to look Tony in the eye. Tony looked down at Steele, and asked, "Now, is that any way to treat a soldier?" Steele retaliated by saying, "You're no soldier: you're just an overgrown chew toy." Tony responded to Steele's insult by swiping him across the muzzle, causing him to be knocked to the floor and have three long, red scars running the length of his muzzle.

"Listen up: if any of youze bother Balto again, if doesn't whoop your ass, then I will!" threatened Tony, and all the dogs, including Steele, ran off. Smiling, Balto said, "Thanks, guys," and the others smiled in response. Bruto asked, "Hey, Balto: you could've easily taken that idiot on, so why didn't you?" Balto shrugged his shoulders, and answered, "Well, I could've taken him on, but that would make no better than him." Tony smiled, and said, "You're a good dog, Balto." Buddy then saw Jenna looking hopefully at Balto, and said to the others, "Hey, guys. Maybe we should leave Balto with his girl, don't you think?" Buddy then secretly raised his eyebrows a couple times. Chuckling softly, Tony said, "Good idea." And the three of them said, "See ya later, Balto," and they walked down the street. "Bye guys!" shouted Balto, and walked over to Jenna, a massive smile forming inside him.

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**OK, look: this is meant to be the _12 weeks later _part of Chapter 3, so this kind of counts as Chapter 3.5**

**Please R&R :)**

**Nf991**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As his three friends headed off down the opposite direction of the main street of Nome, Balto turned around and started to walk down the street with Jenna, who was sneaking glances at Balto when he wasn't looking. Jenna was particularly surprised to how much of Balto's body was now covered in visible muscles. That, along with his training vest and dog tags hanging loosely around his neck, made Jenna think that Balto look way more mature than she thought he could ever be. "So," Jenna started casually, "how was boot camp?" Balto chuckled, before saying, "Well, put it this way: I'd rather go to Hell and meet the Devil himself than go through boot camp again." Jenna and Balto shared a quick chuckle at Balto's exaggerated view on boot camp. Once the laughter had died down, Balto shuffled his front paws nervously on the snow as he asked, "So, uh, how's Rosie coping with her father gone?" Jenna sighed and stopped, causing Balto to stop beside her.

"She's doing OK; her father got deployed the day before you finished. We haven't heard from his yet," explained Jenna, to which Balto looked down to think for a moment before lifting his head back up and saying, "Well, look at it this way: he's probably still on the boat heading towards his destination, so he's probably fine." Balto must've known what he said would cheer Jenna up, because when he said that, Jenna smiled her little smile that caused Balto's heart to melt and his legs to turn into jelly. Balto never knew Jenna could smile so sweetly; he couldn't explain it, but it always made his day when he saw it. But Balto couldn't escape the fact that he was trying to hold off to Jenna until the last minute: the fact that he himself was being deployed tomorrow. He had only found out by accident: he was taking a quick nap in his dog house, when Sgt. Hunt walked pass with a young private at his side, telling the private he was proud to be seeing these fine dogs shipping off to defeat the Nazi threat and win the War. When the private and Hunt had past the dog house, Balto dashed out of the compound and went to tell Bruno, Tony and Buddy. He was going to tell Jenna; he just...didn't know how.

"Uh, Jenna, I got to tell you something," stuttered Balto nervously, pawing the snowy ground nervously. "What is it?" asked Jenna, silently thinking the worst. Balto took a deep breath and said, "Well, the humans need tracker dogs really –REALLY- bad, so, uh, I'm gettingdeployedtomorrow." Balto muttered the last few words quickly, but Jenna easily understood. "BATLO, NO! YOU'VE ONLY JUST FINISHED TRAINING! THEY CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" shouted Jenna, her eyes starting to well up. Balto sighed and said, "Jenna, I'm sorry, but the humans really need me and the others," explained Balto sympathetically, trying his best to comfort Jenna. Jenna then buried her head into Balto's muscular chest and muttered, "You could die!" Sighing, Balto put his front right paw over Jenna's back and started to stroke her back, in an attempt to comfort her. "Listen, Jenna; I'm doing this to protect everyone...to protect you," he explained softly. But Jenna continued to cry into Balto's chest, mumbling things like 'don't go' and 'please stay'. Balto then tried, "Look, Jenna: since it's my last night, I would love to spend it with you." But the mere mention of him leaving caused Jenna to cry even harder. _Well, that didn't work as well as I planned, _thought Balto, but then another idea came into his head. "Jenna, I promise that I'll come back for you. Trust me." Jenna, hearing Balto's promise, lifted her face up and looked up to him with red eyes and sniffled, "Y-You promise?" Smiling softly, Balto said, "Promise."

He could see that Jenna's eyes were quickly starting to dry up, making him feel better: he hated seeing her like this, no matter what he was doing, he would always help her out and see if there was anything he could do to help. "So, uh, what do you want to do?" Balto asked, leaving it up to Jenna to decide on what to do. Jenna smiled and, lifting herself off of Balto's chest, flicked her tail seductively across his face, saying, "Well, how about I let you decide." She then walked off towards Balto's boat, with the love-struck wolf/dog trotted behind her.

_Meanwhile..._

Meanwhile, as the sun started to set on the two canines walking towards Balto's boat, Buddy, Bruto and Tony were scavenging the bins behind the butchers, trying their best to find any remaining scraps of meat. "This is like looking for a meaty needle in a haystack of trash," said Buddy, looking through a tipped over bin for any remaining meat, or even a bone, but he got nothing: someone had obviously picked this one clear of any sort of food. Sighing angrily, Tony said, "Now what I say 'bout your analogies?" Buddy pulled himself out of the bin and shrugged, unaware of the banana peel hanging from behind his right ear. Tony chuckled quietly at the sight, as to not make Buddy aware of the fruit. Suddenly, Bruto started to smell the air, and said to the others, "Hey, guys: I smell something." He sniffed a bit more before saying, "Beef." Walking a short distance down the alley behind the butchers, Tony said, "Well, what are waiting for? Let's get going!" Tony then took off, with Bruto in hot pursuit, leaving Buddy to shake the banana peel, which he had only now just noticed, alone and looking up to find he was by himself. "Hey, guys! Wait up!" he called and ran after them, only to end up running into Bruto.

"Well, well, well; what do we have here?" said Bruto, eyeing up three beautiful female dogs who were sitting in the boiler room. One was a chocolate Labrador with green eyes; the second was a Husky with a black coat, white underbelly and bright blue eyes; and the third was an English Settler with a brown and white coat and chocolate brown eyes. The Labrador must've noticed them, because she said, "Hey, you guys!" The English Settler and Husky turned to face the three friends when the Lab called them. "Uh, yeah?" The Lab then got up and said, "You're those military dogs, right?" Buddy had a smirk on his face when the Lab asked, and puffed out his chest to try and impress them. Bruto and Tony shook their heads at Buddy and nodded in response to the Lab's question. Tilting her head back as to gesture for them to come over there, the Lab called, "Come on over here; we would like to talk to you!" Buddy, Bruto and Tony looked at each other for a second, trying to silently decide on what to do. After a few moments, Tony, a small smile forming on his face, said, "Come then, guys: we've been trained to fight against the worst of the worst. We can't be of a few little girls now, can we?"

Smirking, Bruto nodded, but Buddy quickly and quietly said, "Speak for yourself!" He peaked a glance at the three girls, who were all smiling at them and waving, "Those gals are hot! And I'm from Texas!" But Bruto and Tony ignored Buddy and started walking towards the girls, with Buddy quickly trailing behind them. "So, what do youze what to talk about?" asked Tony, as he, Buddy and Bruto lied down next to the three female dogs. "Well, first, let's introduce ourselves: I'm Evelyn," the Husky said, eyeing Tony lovingly, even though he was trying his best to avoid her look, but he was failing terribly. "I'm Cali," said the Labrador, shifting herself so she was lying down next to Buddy. "And I'm Katie," finished the English Settler, trying her best to avoid Bruto's secret looks. "Gosh, those are some very purty names," said Buddy, causing all three of the girls to blush. Cali couldn't stop secretly looking at Buddy: she immediately took a liking to Buddy.

"So, uh, why did you want us to come over here?" asked Bruto, secretly taking looks at Katie. "Well," said Evelyn, "we wanted to thank you boys for what you're doing: it's a very dangerous job." Katie, shifting so she was even closer to Bruto, who was blushing like mad, added, "You're really brave dogs." Shifting nervously, Bruto replied, "Uh, thanks?" Smirking at his friends nervousness, Tony said, "Yeah, we really appreciate it: especially since we're being deployed tomorrow." This caused Cali, Katie and Evelyn to shout out, "WHAT?!" Bruto cleared his throat and said, "Well, yeah: the humans need us really bad." Shrugging his shoulders, Tony said, "Eh, I survive Brooklyn; if you survive that, you can survive anything." Evelyn let out a short girly giggle: she really thought Tony's accent was very cute. Buddy, shaking slightly in nervousness, said to Cali, "Uh, Ms Cali, I was wondering, um, since it was my last night and all, would you like to go for a walk?" Beaming, Cali stood up and said, "I'd love to." Smiling in relief, Buddy and Cali exited the boiler room side by side. Suddenly, something clicked inside Bruto's head, _Hey, that leaves me with an idea!_

He then turned to Katie and said, "Would you like to walk around for a bit, Ms?" Smiling, Katei said, "I thought you never ask!" Soon, they left, leaving Tony and Evelyn alone in the boiler room. Feeling rather awkward, Tony started, "Uh, well-" But was cut off when Evelyn got up and said, "Don't even bother: I'm walking with ya!" Tony mentally smiled: he really like Evelyn's attitude. So, he got up and he and Evelyn exited the boiler room and into the cool, wintery night. "So, where are you from, handsome?" asked Evelyn, causing Tony to blush at her nickname for him. "Brooklyn, New Yawk," answered Tony, and Evelyn smiled and nuzzled him, causing him to blush and nuzzle her back. Tony sighed and muttered, "Beautiful." Evelyn heard him and she said, "You really think so?" Tony's eyes widened: he didn't expect her to hear him. But he smiled none the less and said, "I know so." He didn't noticed it until his muzzle connected with Evelyn's, but he knew from that moment on; he was going to come back for the War, no matter what.

_Meanwhile..._

"So where are you from?" asked Cali, walking as close as she could next to Buddy. Smiling at her, Buddy said, "Waaaaaaay down south," as he pointed in a random direction. Clearing her throat, Cali said, "Uh, Buddy? That's East." Blushing madly, Buddy quickly said, "Uh...I was, um, just, uh, just, just testing you! Yeah to see if you caught on!" Cali giggled to herself: she knew where he was from, but she just LOVED his accent. But she then noticed that Buddy was starting to shiver badly. "Buddy, what's wrong?" asked Cali, concerned for Buddy's health. "W-W-Well, where I come f-f-f-from, it's a lot warmer; and I just n-n-not used to the c-c-cold," stuttered Buddy, walking down an alley and lying on the ground, trying his best to get warmer. Cali felt bad for him, and once he had lied down, she climbed over him and lied down on him, trying her best to cover his entire body. "C-C-Cali, what're you d-d-doing?" asked Buddy, blush noticeable on his face. "Body heat; help keeping you warm," explained Cali simply, and Buddy just noticed that he had stopped shivering. Buddy looked up to thank her, but when he did, Cali's eyes came into his view and he was frozen. Slowly, they both began to move closer and closer until their lips touched.

_Meanwhile..._

"Wow, how many stars do you think are up there?" asked Katie, leaning against Bruto's muscular neck and she and Bruto sat on the edge of a cliff, looking up at the number of stars that filled the sky. "Uh, about a hundred?" replied Bruto, unsure about his answer. Giggled, Katie said, "I think there are a few more than that." Shaking his head, Bruto muttered, "I was looking at something more beautiful. Bruto's eyes then widened, and he said, "Oh crap, did I just say that out loud?" Katie looked at him lovingly, which caused him to lose all and any control over his mind and he started to stutter, "W-W-Well, I-I-I-I mean you're pretty, but I-I-I-I mean, uh-" but before his could think of an excuse, Katie grabbed his muzzle and pressed it against her own, causing Bruto to close his eyes in bliss.

_Meanwhile..._

As his three friends shared their last night with their new girlfriends, Balto and Jenna were lying down on the edge of Balto's boat, looking up at the sky, waiting for something. Jenna was trying her best to snuggle up to Balto as best she could, and Balto smiled and nuzzled her. "OK, any minute now," whispered Balto, looking back up to the sky as colourful bands of light illuminated the sky as though the sun had decided to come in the middle of the night: they were the... "Northern Lights," whispered Jenna, in awe of the colourful display in front of her. Looking at the sky, Jenna whispered, "It's beautiful, Balto." But Balto wasn't looking at the lights; he was looking at something, or someone, more important and beautiful than the Northern Lights. "Yeah, beautiful," muttered Balto, looking at Jenna. Jenna turned around to see what he was looking at, and she looked directly into the eyes of the wolf/dog, and before she knew it, she and Balto were moving their muzzles closer together until they connected. For that moment, that one blissful moment, Balto forgot about the War, about his deployment and about him possibly dying; he didn't think about any of that when his mouth connected with Jenna's.

Neither of them wanted the moment to end, but they had to soon. Once they did, the two of them walked and slept under Balto's tattered and torn blankets, any idea of the War long forgotten.

* * *

**Sorry it's taken so long to complete and upload this chapter; it's just that I've been working on my other story. I promise that I will upload the next chapter soon!**

**Nf991**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dawn broke over the sleepy town of Nome, but already, the Main Street was lined with townspeople waited to see the soldiers leave on the plane to go to War, while the Husky population of Nome waited with their owners, wanting to see the tracker dogs leave with the soldiers. The townspeople stood waiting for the soldiers to come out of their homes, carrying several bunches of flowers, along with the Post Office radio blurting out _Star Spangled Banner _via the radio. The townspeople didn't have to wait long, though: pleasantly, soldiers started to come out of their homes, all wearing standard Army uniform. The crowd cheered loudly as the soldiers walked towards the plane, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain that would be taking them to their destination. Meanwhile, bringing up the rear was Sgt. Hunt, and behind him, were all the tracker dogs, including Balto, Buddy, Tony and Bruto. "Were d'you think our gals are?" asked Tony, looking at the crowds of people, trying to locate Evelyn in the mass of dogs and humans. Looking around, Balto's keen wolf eyes spotted Jenna, along with Evelyn, Katie and Cali and he said, "Look, there they are; they're with the rest of the dogs."

Sighing, Buddy walked up to Cali and said, "Well, sweetheart; looks like this is it. I just want you to know, last night was the best night of my life." With tears starting to pour down her cheeks, Cali said, "Oh, Buddy," before she couldn't take it anymore and started to cry into his shoulder while Buddy stroked her back, trying his best to calm her down. "It's OK, gal; I'll be back before you even know it," reassured Buddy, performing short and gentle strokes on her back with one paw and wiping away her tears with the other. Meanwhile, Katie walked up to Bruto, but before Bruto could even make a start on saying his goodbyes to her, Katie flung herself at Bruto and kissed him, long and passionately. Pulling away, Katie, would had started to cry a little, whispered to him, "Go get 'em, tiger." As the other two said their goodbyes to their girlfriends, Tony walked up to Evelyn as she said, "Tony, please be safe." Smiling reassuringly, Tony said, "Don't worry, hon; if I can take on what Brooklyn can throw at me, I sure as Hell can take on this War." He then kissed her goodbye. Once he had reluctantly pulled away, he, Buddy and Bruto followed the last of the soldiers onto the Skytrain. Balto, however, was still on the ground with Jenna and Borris.

"Balto, I am very proud of you but please, be careful; if I lose you, I'll be stuck vith the two idiot bears," said Borris, talking about Muk and Luk. "Balto; please, reconsider," begged Jenna, but Balto just sighed and said, "Jenna, I can't, even if I wanted to. If I did, I'd get shot for desertion." Balto knew he shouldn't have been so graphic, but he had to convince Jenna that he couldn't stay. "I don't want you to go," cried Jenna, putting her head into her chest and sobbing softly. Balto sighed; he knew this was going to be tough on both of them; they both knew Balto was going somewhere worse than Hell and possibly dying in the process, so this could possibly be the last time they would be seeing each other. "Jenna, military dogs don't actually go into combat; we just sniff people who come into our camp to see if they're a Nazi spy or not," said Balto, knowing full-well that he would eventually go into combat sooner or later, but he couldn't tell Jenna that; she had to think he was going to be safe. "I promise that I'll come back to you, and then we can do whatever we want," Balto added, and it seemed to work, because Jenna look up from her chest and said, "Just be safe, Balto." Balto smiled and as he said, "I love you too, Jenna," Buddy called from the still open door of the plane, "Balto, come on! They're leaving soon!"

Giving Jenna a final kiss goodbye, Balto runs up to the plane and climbs the steps just seconds before the steps are pulled into the plane and the door was slammed shut. Balto then runs to the closest window and looks out of it, thinking that this might be the last time he sees Nome, and Jenna. All too soon, Balto felt the vibrations and the sound of the two propeller engines starting, and slowly, the plane started to pick up speed and eventually, took off into the sky, with the crowds of people and dogs cheering them on . _Please be safe, Balto, _thought Jenna as she, and the rest of the town, watched the plane carrying their heroes get smaller and smaller, until it was nothing more than a small dot on the sky.

For the next eighteen hours, Balto's Skytrain flew over the United States and the Atlantic Ocean, before arriving at what remained of London, along with hundreds of other planes carrying soldiers from other countries to help with the War. Balto, Buddy, Bruto and Tony were then put onto another plane, along with many other people from both their home and other countries, were put onto another plane that would take them to Africa, to help with the battle of El Alamein. But this plane only took them to France, where they took a battleship for the rest of the journey. Finally, after another four day trip, Balto, Buddy, Bruto and Tony arrived in Africa. As soon as they exited the ship, Buddy started with his analogies. "Sweet Mother of Mercy! It's hotter than one of Mama's Texan chilli with extra chilli!" Buddy exclaimed, causing Tony to growl threateningly and says, "Your next analogy is going where the sun doesn't shine!" Sighing, Balto, who was starting to get annoyed with the two constantly arguing, said, "Come on guys; knock it off!"

"Come on; let's go find our commander," said Bruto, and the four started trying to find their commander's tent. As they tried to find it, they passed the medical tent with the flaps open, and inside, they saw the horrors of War; the tent was filled with wounded soldiers and doctors and nurses. Some of the wounded soldiers had just a few large cuts covering their body, but others had entire limbs that looked like they had just been ripped from their body; they even saw a person with everything below their waist missing! "Man; I'm glad I don't have to go into combat," Balto muttered to himself as he saw the fate that possibly await him and his friends should they get called out. But Balto knew that he shouldn't be afraid; he had to be strong for his country...for Jenna.

Meanwhile, back in Nome, all the remaining dogs were gathered in the boiler room, listening to a husky called Brain as he listened to what Morse, the dog at the Telegraph Office, was telling him, which he then told the others. "OK; Morse says that...Balto and his boat has made it to Africa." Jenna let out a silent sigh of relief and she cried, "Thank heavens they're still alive!" Steele, who was against one of the walls, said, "Unfortunately," loud enough for the entire room to hear; he still wanted Balto to die. "Steele! I have had it with you!" shouted Jenna, still furious that Steele wanted Balto dead. Kaltag then shouted "So what if Balto dies? He's just a stupid half-breed!" Another dog then shouted, "Yeah, he doesn't belong here; he's better off anyway!" Jenna was disgusted; Balto was risking his life for them, and they were still treating them like dirt! A terrier then said, "Yeah, I bet his own guys will kill him, thinking he's a wolf!" A random dog that made a, "AWOOOOOOO!" sound, trying to make it like a wolf's howl, causing most of the dogs in the room to burst out in laughter. "You're all dirt! Balto's better than the lot of you!" shouted Jenna, as she stormed out of the boiler room and into the night sky.

"Please Balto; come back," Jenna whispered, looking up at the stars, hoping that Balto would be looking at the same one...


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Balto suddenly awoke to the sound of several men shouting in several different languages and the sound, and vibrations, of a number of tanks rumbling across the ground. Getting up and stretching his legs, Balto walked towards the entrance of the kennels and saw at least about two hundred soldiers, all armed with machine guns, hand guns and grenades, lining up at the edge of the fort they were staying at, all preparing to go out into combat. "You know, if these krauts know what's good for them, they'll have surrendered and gone by the time I got there," said one soldiers confidently, his fingers flexing around the handle of his Johnson Model 1941 LMG Light Machine Gun. Another man shouted, "Hey! One with the most kills wins, and loser has to buy the first round of shots!" as he loaded an ammo clip into his Thompson. "Let's just get this over with so I can get back to my wife and child," said a third man, and Balto saw that it was Johnson, standing at the edge of the group of soldiers.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" shouted a man standing onto a tank, causing Balto to assume that he was the commander of the troops. "We're going out to help the British take out the German's in this area. We'll be passing a fair few ambush points, so we'll have the dogs out in the front to sniff out any Germans before they fire on us. And, boys; don't forget what happened at Pearl Harbour, because we're not just doing this for our countries anymore; we're doing this for all our fallen brothers." All the soldiers started to become enraged and started to load any of their remaining weapons; even though it wasn't the Germans who attacked Pearl Harbour, they were still allies with Japan, and they were still the enemy; so this wasn't just a War now...it just became personal. "Hey, Balto what's going on?" asked Bruto, who had just gotten up and had just finished stretching his muscles.

Sighing, Balto turned around and said grimly, "Looks like we're going into combat after all." Startled, Bruto asked, "We are? Well, I'd better go wake up the sleepers," as he turned around and walked up to Buddy and Tony, who were just waking up; they must've been pretty heavy sleepers, being able to sleep through all the noise that was coming from outside. "That won't be necessary," said Tony as he and Buddy stretched their limbs and waited for the reason behind Balto and Bruto's grim faces. But before Balto or Bruto could tell them they were going into combat, and possibly Hell, the dog handler entered the kennels; he too was wearing an Army uniform, and he had four black leads in his hand. Seeing that Tony, Balto, Buddy and Bruto were already awake, the handler walked up to each of them and attached a lead to their collars, saying, "C'mon, guys; we're going into combat, and you're needed to sniff out any Nazi scum." Buddy looked absolutely horrified; he obviously hadn't expected to go into combat on his second day! "COMBAT! That's worse than getting stuck in cattle man -" started Buddy, but once he remembered what Tony said he do if he said one more analogy, he stopped mid-sentence.

Before the dogs were led outside, they were fitted with padded vest that had dessert camo covering it, to blend in with the sandy roads they were going to be travelling down. They also noticed that these ones were thicker and heavier than the ones they had worn during their training, but they assumed that these ones must have bullet-proof padding in them to protect them. They then made their way towards the convoy outside, which was now consisting of four Light Tanks M3 and seven troop carriers, as well as about two hundred troops spread out on both the troop carriers and walking between the tanks and the carriers, with the dogs being put at the head of the convoy. Soon, the convoy started to move out with the dogs leading. As soon as they left the safety of the fort, Balto could feel a cold blanket of fear cover the convoy; they knew that all of them had just become targets. After a painfully slow ten minutes, they came across an abandoned town; this was, if you could still call it a town: there was only about two buildings still standing, with the rest of them in piles of rubble and twisted bits of steel and concrete. There weren't any bodies; they must have been buried earlier that day. In the distance in front of them, they could hear gunfire as well as hear, and see, massive explosions filling the sky temporarily. "Man; it sounds bad out here," said Tony, trying to avoid looking at the puddles of crimson dirt that littered the area. "Hopefully we won't get attacked," muttered Balto, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand up; he was terrified that he might get shot and never see Jenna again. But he wasn't the only one who was visibly shaking in their boots; dozens of the men in the troop carriers were flexing their fingers around the handles of their weapons nervously, while a few of the men were performing the sign of the cross on the torsos and muttering silent prayers under their breaths. But one of the soldiers, the one who made the bet with the others, was actually smiling.

"Man, I cannot wait to see those Krauts faces when we see them; they'll have more holes in them than Swiss cheese by the time I'm through with them!" the soldier shouted, aiming his gun at the forests surrounding what remained of the town and pretending to fire some bullets. "Corporal! Shut up and stay focused!" shouted the Commander, who was still on the tank, with his fingers flexing around his Colt M1917 Revolver pistol. Suddenly, Balto caught a smell that he had been training to smell and respond to; Nazi. Balto started barking and pulling on his lead in the direction where the smell was coming from. "What is it? What do you smell boy?" asked the Dog Handler, as Bruto, Tony and Buddy smelt the same smell Balto was smelling, and started following Balto's lead, by starting to bark at the smell as well. Suddenly, several of the soldiers saw movement in the trees surrounding the village, and one soldier, who had the sense to use his binoculars, saw a Nazi setting up a rocket launcher.

"SHIT! AMBUSH!" shouted the solider, just moments before the Nazi fired the rocket at the tank, causing it to explode in a fiery ball of fire, metal and blood. The troops on the carriers immediately jumped onto the ground, fearing their vehicle was the next to be blow up. For one of them, they were right; the Carrier at the front of the convoy was blown to smithereens by another Nazi rocket launcher just seconds after the tank was blown up, sending troops, as well as the tracker dogs, to the ground, covered in a cloud of dirt and dust. Before the dust cleared, the remaining troops scrambled to the cover of what remained of the village, while Balto, Bruto, Tony and Buddy took cover behind the caterpillar tracks of the destroyed tank. Moments later, the forests surrounding the village opened up to over three hundred Nazi soldiers, firing their weapons and throwing grenades at the Americans. Bullets flew over the village, shredding anything that wasn't either brick or metal, mainly the soldiers themselves, to bloody messes that soon littered the floor.

Balto then saw the solider that had made the bet with the other soldiers and had made the comment about the Nazi's being Swish cheese smiled behind his cover and, once he had taken the safety off his Tommy, stepped out of cover and shouted, "WHAT D'YOU GOT?! WHAT D'YOU GOT, BITCHES!" killing several of the Germans, before a well-aimed bullet flew straight through his right eye and out of the back of his skull, causing his to slowly falling to the floor, a pool of blood forming around his wounded skull. "Dear God..." muttered Buddy, covering his eyes with his paws, not wanting to see the horrors of War happening in front of him. "Come on, we have to help!" said Tony, wanting to get some Nazi blood on the ground. "HOW? WE DON'T HAVE GUNS! And, along with the fact that we don't have THUMBS!" yelled Buddy, gesturing his paws to Tony. Sighing, Tony said it like it was obvious, "WHAT D'YOU THINK WE HAVE TEETH FOR?!" as he jumped up from his cover and ripping the throat out of a Nazi soldier, who slowly choked to death.

Buddy, Balto and Bruto soon caught on to what Tony meant, and they too started attacking the Nazi soldiers, ripping their throats out and biting limbs. Suddenly, Balto saw an American soldier hiding behind what remained of the corner of a building, reloading his gun, but then Balto saw a Nazi about to open fire on him. "NOO!" shouted Balto, charging into the Nazi, knocking him to the ground. But before Balto could inflict any harm to him, the Nazi hit the side of his head with the barrel of his pistol, forcing Balto off him and close to passing out. "_Sag hallo zu dem Teufel für mich_," said the Nazi, pointing his pistol at Balto, ready to kill him. But before he could pull the trigger, three bullets ripped through the Nazi's chest, two of them going through both lungs and the third going straight through his heart. As the Nazi fell to the ground, Balto looked up, and saw that the American soldier that he had saved was Johnson!

"Thanks...Balto?!" said Johnson, not expecting to see Balto in Africa; he hadn't been to the tracker dog training centre, so he didn't know about Balto being a tracker dog. Thinking about it, Johnson realised that, even though he had hated to wolf/dog ever since he first heard of him, Balto had just saved his life. "Guess I was wrong about you boy," said Johnson, patting Balto's head, which Balto barked in response. Suddenly, Balto heard Bruto shout, "BALTO! GET OVER HERE, QUICKLY!" Leaving Johnson, Balto ran over to Bruto and the body of a dog on the ground; it was Tony, and he had been shot through his left hind leg. "It's nothin'. Finish off them Germans!" shouted Tony as blood slowly dripped out of his bullet wound.

By now, only a couple of dozen soldiers who had left the fort were still alive, and all of the Tanks and Carriers had been blown to smouldering wrecks. But thankfully, the Nazi's who were still alive had retreated, leaving behind the bodies of their fallen comrades. "AH, DAMN THOSE NAZI SONS OF BITCHES!" shouted one of the soldiers, kicking and stepping on several dead Nazis. As the Commander tried to see who survived and who didn't, Buddy trotted over to Tony and asked, "Tones, are you alright?" Sighing, Tony said, "I've been better. Hey, what happened to you?" Tony asked when he saw blood coming from Buddy's left side of his face. Turning his head, Buddy showed that the ear flap of his left ear was missing, and that blood was steadily dripping out of the wound. "One of them Germans cut it off; it hurt like the fiery pits of Hell!" Apart from Tony's bullet wound and Buddy's missing ear flap, Bruto and Balto had no other injuries. That was, until Balto saw something that made his heart stop; one of the Nazis, who had only just survived, had a grenade in his hand. "_Wir sehen uns in der Hölle!_" he said, causing Balto and Bruto to start barking to warn the Americans.

"SHIT! SOMEONE KILL THAT NAZI!" shouted the Commander as Balto jumped on the Nazi, biting and clawing at him. But the Nazi had already pulled the pin out of the grenade, and he ended up dying laughing. The second he saw the pin being pulled out of the grenade, Balto got off the Nazi and picked up the grenade in his mouth, and ran as fast as he could away from the Americans. "BATLO, COME BACK!" shouted Bruto, running after Balto, unaware of the danger they were both in. Balto then dropped the grenade and ran back, only to realise his mistake when it was too late; he had dropped the grenade next to one of the American Tanks, which was still leaking fuel! But Balto didn't reach fast enough; the grenade detonated, setting the fuel on fire and creating a massive fireball. The explosion caught Bruto's face, burning the right side of his face, causing him to pass out from the heat and the force of the explosion.

By the time the smoke and dirt had settled, Balto was nowhere to be seen. "BALTO!" shouted Johnson, franticly searching for the missing wolf/dog, but he couldn't find him anywhere. _'All the times I kicked him and insulted him, and he just saved my life! Maybe he's a real hero after all...' _thought Johnson, but he was soon taken from his train of thought when another soldier shouted, "Sir! You'd better come and see this!" Jogging over to the solider, who was near a small cliff, not that any of the soldiers took any notice of, Johnson saw that the soldier was holding a pair of blackened and slightly melted dog tags, but the writing on them was still as clear as day:

_BALTO_

_NOME, ALASKA_

_5503948188_

"No...No..." said Johnson, falling to his knees and cried at the loss of the wolf/dog that had saved his life. "Balto, he's...he's..." said Buddy, unable to say it, but instead, he cried softly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. "NO! HE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!" shouted Tony, tears starting to form in his eyes, not wanting to believe it was true: his friend had just died saving them. Sighing heavily, the Commander said, "Come on; let's get the dead and the injured back to the base." He then looked over at the three other tracker dogs, and said, "That these dogs back to their country; it's the least they deserve." A soldier said, "Yes, sir," before he radioed for a truck to help carry the dead and injured back to the fort, and once they were fixed, another truck would take them back to the boat, which would take them back to France, and then back to home.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Nome, Jenna suddenly awoke with a stabbing pain in her heart; and it was at that point, there and then, that she knew that something terrible had happened to Balto.

* * *

**Sorry it's taken so long, I've been doing other things.**

**Nf991**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The whole American base in Africa was covered in a blanket of grim tidings; hundreds of their soldiers had been killed in the most recent attack by the German forces, and many more had been injured. Among these soldiers killed in action was Balto, who had been killed when he saved the rest of his squad from a grenade going off next to a nearly full tank of fuel. At the command building of the base, the commander, who had a bandage around his left arm from a rouge piece of shrapnel that had hit him, said to the Colonel, "Look, I want all the soldiers who have been wounded to go back to their home countries." But the Colonel disagreed, "But sir that would reduce our numbers significantly." Sighing in annoyance, the commander shouted, "They can't fight with their injures, anyway! I want you to send them home, Colonel; and that's an order."

Nodding, the Colonel went over to the radio and tuned it to find the nearest plane in the area, which he would order to come to the base and bring the wounded soldiers, as well as the tracker dogs, back to their home country. Meanwhile, back in the tracker dogs kennels, Bruto, Buddy and Tony were sitting in a circle, talking lightly. Tony had a splint and bandages covering his hind leg, which had been operated on and the bullet been removed; Buddy had bandages on his flapless ear, which still had dried blood covering the lower parts of his face, and Bruto, who had burns covering his entire side of his face, had special cream on it to help with the pain. But they all knew one thing, and that was they were lucky; they were still alive.

"How are we gonna tell everyone that Balto's gone?" asked Buddy, knowing that the three of them were trying to hold off this part of their conversation for as long as possible. Shaking his head slowly, Bruto said, "I don't know; all I know is that poor Jenna's going to be heartbroken." Tony and Buddy nodded in agreement; they could see how much Jenna and Balto loved each other, and when Jenna found out that Balto's dead…they didn't even want to think about what'll happen. "At least he went out as a hero; but still…" said Tony, unable to finish his sentence, because he didn't have to; Balto was gone, and all three of them knew it. The continued to talk until the dog handler came into the kennels, holding three black leads in his hand. "Come on, boys; you heading home," said to the handler, pointing to the refueling Douglas DC-3. The three dogs couldn't be happier as they headed towards the DC-3; they were all heading home and would be seeing their girls soon. But as they boarded the plane, they felt that something was missing; their fallen friend, and fallen hero, Balto.

"Wait; just making sure I've still got them," said Tony, checking to see if he still had something he had collected before he and the rest of the squad left the area where they had been ambush; Balto's blackened dog-tags. Nodding to show that he had them, Tony entered the plane and, as he was the last one, the door was closed behind them.

The DC-3 soon took off and headed over the Atlantic Ocean and had to re-fuel 18 hours later at Cuba, before taking off and arriving at Nome about 12 hours later. The plane was pretty empty on the return journey, as only seven out of the thirty were on the return journey; Johnson, Rosie's father, was one of them lucky. When news got to Nome that the soldiers would be returning, the humans and the dogs had gathered at the Main Street of Nome, and they soon saw the DC-3 in the air and it soon landed on the snowy ground. As the soldiers got off the plane and headed towards the town, the towns people could see the full horror of War walking towards them; some of the men had one or two limbs missing, whereas one soldier

Had both his legs and one of his arms blown off, leaving him with only his torso and one arm. The whole town seemed to become silent as they saw the blank faces of the soldiers, and yet, they could see the full scale of how back War can be. When Rosie and Caroline saw Johnson, they ran up to him, hugging him tightly when they reached him. "I missed you so much, Daddy," whispered Rosie, tears pouring down her cheeks as she hugged his leg tightly. "I missed you too, sweetheart," said Johnson, bending down and hugging his daughter tightly; this was the best thing that had happened to him since he joined the War, being able to see his wife and daughter one last time.

"TONY!" shouted Evelyn, breaking from the crowd and running to the Rottweiler when she saw that his hind leg had a splint wrapped onto it. When she reached him, she gave his a lick on the cheek and nuzzled him lovingly. "BUDDY!" screamed Cali in horror when she saw the blood covering his face and the bandages around his ear. "Shh, it's OK; I'm fine, now that you're here, sweetheart," said Buddy as he nuzzling comfortingly at crying Cali. Katie broke away from the crowd and ran up to Bruto, and seeing his severely burned face, shouted, "Bruto! W-What happened to you?" as she started to tear up. This was the perfect moment for Bruto, Buddy and Tony; after going to Hell, it was perfect to see their girlfriends again and be back to a place they could call home. Jenna stepped forward from the crowd and, after not seeing Balto, walked up to Tony and asked, fearing the worst, "Tony, w-where's Balto?" Tony's face suddenly went grim; he was dreading the moment he would have to tell Jenna this. Sighing, Tony said, "Get to the boiler room; I'll tell all y'all there." He then started to limp to the boiler room, with the rest of the dogs following him.

Once all of the dogs had assembled at the boiler room, Tony stood in front of all of them and begun his tragic tale.

"Me, Buddy, Bruto and…Balto were picked to go out into the frontline to help sniff out Germans for any ambush points along the convoys track. Balto was the first to sniff out the Germans, and before we knew it…they attacked; they ambushed us before we even had a chance to prepare. I was shot through the leg, Buddy got his ear flap cut off, and Bruto got caught in a grenade explosion, burning half his face," said Tony, as all the dogs gasped in horror; sure, they knew that the War was bad, but none of them thought it was THIS bad. "W-W-What about Balto?" asked Jenna, tears starting to pour down her cheeks. Sighing shakily, Tony said, "After we fought off them Germans, one of dead ones managed to live long enough to pull the pin out of a grenade, and Balto jumped him and took the grenade. He ran off and he…he…" Tony couldn't finish the sentence; he became too choked up. He took Balto's burnt dog tags from his padded vest and put them on the floor in front of Jenna, saying, "I'm so sorry, Jenna; he didn't make it. He died saving us all."

At that moment, Jenna felt as though someone had taken her heart from her chest, stepped on it and then, after all that, ripped it in two separate parts. At first, she didn't want to believe that Balto was dead; she couldn't; she didn't want her one true lover to be taken away from her by War. She was shocked; her face went blank, but she soon collapsed on the ground, crying heavily as she embraced Balto's dog tags tightly. "B-B-Balto! NOOOOOOOOOO!" cried Jenna, tears pouring down her perfect cheeks; to loss someone because of War was the worst thing to happen to someone. She quickly got up, grabbed the dog-tags in her mouth and ran out of the boiler room, her cries being heard all throughout Nome. "Batlo's…dead?" asked one of the dogs; sure, they never really like Balto, but none of them disliked him enough to wish him to be dead, especially by a death as brutal and as painful as an explosion.

Something inside Buddy suddenly snapped; a rage pumping through his veins that he had never experienced before. He got up violently and started to knock things over, the combination of his brute strength with his violent rage made it hard for anyone to get close enough to him to calm him down. "THIS IS BULLCRAP! HE DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE! THIS STINKIN' WORTHLESS GERMAN SCUM! AHHHHHHH!" Buddy shouted, continuing on his rampage, forcing the dogs to run out of the way to avoid being hit by him. Cali had to back off; Buddy was always so sweet and gentle. Now, there was something in Buddy's eyes that looked like that shouldn't be in there; there was something in his eyes now that made him look like a killer. "CALM DOWN! WE ALL FEEL HIS LOSS!" shouted Bruto, trying to be heard over Buddy. "DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" snarled Buddy, "HE BURNT TO DEATH IN THAT EXPLOSION BECAUSE WE WERE TOO SLOW TO HELP HIM!"

Buddy then ran out of the boiler room. Bruto was about to go after him, but Cali stopped him, saying, "I'll talk to him," before running off after Buddy. She soon found Buddy, sitting in the place where they first kissed, cooling off. "Buddy? Are you OK?" asked Cali. Sighing, Buddy turned to face Cali, who was glad to see his eyes had returned to the way she liked them, and he said, "Cali, I'm sorry I yelled like that; it's just that I just lost a friend because I was too slow to help him." Cali walked up to him and wrapped her paw around him, hoping to comfort him. "Buddy, there was nothing you could've done; Balto would've wanted you to return home." Smiling softly, Buddy said, "You always know how to cheer me up," before gently kissing her under the moonlight.

* * *

"VHAT! YOU'RE LYING!" screeched Boris; Jenna had just arrived at his boat, her eyes red, and told him what Tony had said to her. "Look at me! Do I look like I'm lying?" asked Jenna, showing him her eyes, which were red from her crying so much. "B-B-B-But..He-He's really…" said Borris, unable to say it; Balto had been like a son to him ever since he was just a little pup, and now…Balto was dead. Borris hugged Jenna and cried onto her shoulder as Jenna started again, both of them crying on the fishing boat that Borris called home.

* * *

The next day, a funeral service was held in Nome for all the soldiers that didn't make it back from Africa. There were 28 coffins, each wrapped in an American Flag, the greatest sign for freedom that there ever was, that were carried through Nome. There were people in the crowds that lined the Main Street crying and sniffling loudly as _The Last Post _was played from the Post Office. When all of the coffins had been lined up, an Army officer got up onto a podium and awarded each of the fallen soldiers a Purple Heart. When he got to the coffin made for Balto, but there was no body they could bury, so they used his dog-tags instead. "The President of the United States of America would like to award the military dog, Balto, the Silver Star, for his gallant actions in battle, resulting in his untimely death." Since Balto didn't have a proper owner, the Army officer gave the Silver Star to Johnson, who was the first to point out the fallen hybrid hero to the Army. Johnson put the medal on the ground next to Jenna and Borris, who embraced it tightly; it was the only thing they had left of their son and lover.

As the coffins were buried, all the surviving soldiers gave an honorary salute to their fallen comrades as the dogs of Nome all barked mournfully to their wolf/dog hero, Balto.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the battle-scarred ground of Africa, a wolf/dog was slowly waking up after being knocked out from nearly 17 hours and fallen down a cliff of nearly thirty feet. He was covered in minor burns and scars from what happened 17 hours ago, and when he tried to move, but his entire body was sore. The funny thing was, he couldn't really remember what happened 17 hours ago; all he remembered was a grenade going off and then…nothing. "Am I dead?" he asked himself, before a wave of pain flowed over his body. "Nope, still alive," he muttered to himself, as he climbed up the cliff and began trekking across the African continent to get back to the American Base. On his battered and torn padded army vest, which was covered in dust and soot from the explosion, a single word could still be seen:

_BALTO_


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Balto had been limping across the battle scarred plains of Africa for nearly two hours now; he was trying desperately to remember where the American base was, but so far, he wasn't having any luck remembering. He was walking while he thought to whether or not his teammates and friends were alive, as well as Johnson was still alive as well; his thoughts slowly turned to Jenna, and how she must feel thinking that he must be dead. But his thoughts were interrupted when he caught the scent of two humans. Balto slowly limped under what was left of some kind of vehicle, and saw two humans walk past the vehicle; he saw the Swastika around their arm, and instantly knew they were Nazis; luckily, they were able to speak English and Balto understood every word they were saying.

"So, is ze plan still a go?" asked the taller Nazi, and the shorter Nazi nodded in response. "Yah," said the shorter Nazi, "ze Americans have deployed all of zeir forces to Europe and ze Pacific; that leaves our insertion point totally unguarded." The taller Nazi stopped walking, as did the shorter Nazi; Balto was listening carefully in case they said anything else. "And vhere is that?" The shorter Nazi looked up at the taller Nazi and said, "A settlement by the name of Nome, in Alaska."

_Jenna! _thought Balto, fearing for Jenna's and his friend's, if they were still alive and back at Nome, safety. He slowly crawled out from the vehicle, and began limping as fast as he could in a random direction, hoping it would lead him to the American base; but he seemed to have made too much noise, because the two Nazi's heard him and turned around to see a dog running away from them. "Hey, Dog! Come here!" shouted the taller Nazi, running after Balto, with the shorter Nazi running after the taller Nazi; but since Balto was part wolf, he easily out-stripped the Nazis. "Vait! That dog is an American!" shouted the shorter Nazi, pointing to the gradually shrinking form of Balto, where the American flag could still be easily seen.

"Shoot him!" ordered the taller Nazi, and the shorter Nazi pulled out his pistol and started firing at Balto, but Balto was fast; he kept zigzagging and turning to avoid the bullets, causing all of the bullets to miss him every time. "Damn, he's too fast! Release the dogs!" shouted the taller Nazi, and the shorter Nazi ran over to their small base and opened up the cage of a large German Shepard with a massive scar running up its right cheek. "Go get him Hades!" shouted the shorter Nazi, and Hades growled and ran after Balto, slowly catching up with him, muttering, "You're all mine, American."

Balto noticed that the German's had stopped chasing him, so he stopped momentarily to try and catch a breather; only to have Hades charge into his side and pin him to the floor, growling deeply at the wolf/dog. After being knocked down to the ground with a _thud! _Balto looked up and saw the German Shepard. "Bruto? Why'd you do that?" asked Balto, his vision temporarily obscured from the dust cloud that had been formed from Hades pinning him to the floor. "Don't know anyone by that name," growled Hades. "Then, who are you?" asked Balto, trying to push the strange German Shepard off him, but got a snap at the muzzle for his troubles.

"Your executioner; but you may call me Hades," snarled Hades, before sinking his fangs into Balto's shoulder, causing Balto to yelp in pain and push Hades off him with a hard push to the stomach. Hades got back to his feet just as Balto did, and Hades snarled at Balto before jumping at him, catching his muzzle with his claws and leaving three long, thick claw marks covering his muzzle. Balto yelped and moved to the side just as Hades jumped again; they were near a low cliff, so Hades, with the momentum of the jump, missed Balto and fell over the edge of the cliff, leaving him in a dust-covered heap at the bottom. "This isn't over, American!" shouted Hades, before getting up and slowly limping back to the German's base.

Balto panted slightly before returning to what he was trying to do in the first place; try and find the American base.

* * *

"AHHHH!" shouted Bruto as Katie attempted to apply something to help with his burn marks; Bruto had been complaining that it was stinging, so Katie got something and Bruto, surprisingly, suddenly said that he must've been imagining the pain; this was when Katie tried to apply the soothing cream. "Bruto, hold still or it's going to take even longer," said Katie, sternly but kindly, trying to calm Bruto down. Bruto nodded before trying to move as little as possible before asking, "So…how's Jenna doing."

Katie sighed before saying, "Not good; she hasn't left her house for days and she's stopped seeing her friends; I'm starting to worry about her." Bruto sighed before flattening his ears against his skull, saying, "If only I had gotten to him faster; he might still be alive…" Katie looked at him with soft eyes and said, "Bruto; there wasn't anything you could've done to save him; don't be so hard on yourself." Bruto sighed heavily and lay down on the floor, with Katie lying next to him. "I hope this War ends soon; I'm not sure how much more of this I can take," said Bruto softly, resting his muzzle on his paws slowly. Katie asked, "Is it possible to quit?" Bruto lifted his head up and said, "Are you kidding? Joining the Army was the best thing that ever happened to me." Katie looked up at Bruto with a confused look and said, "But you just say-" but was cut off when Bruto gently rested his paw on hers, and said, "If I didn't join the Army, I would've never met you," before kissing Katie gently.

* * *

"It is just terrible, my friends; all of those humans dead," sighed Doc in the boiler room, where all of the dogs were. "And Balto too," called Tony, who was lying down next to the side of the boiler room with Evelyn. "I don't get it," muttered Steele, "we've bullied him his whole life and he just goes and gets himself killed." Evelyn looked up at Steele and said, "He had a big heart, Steele." Steele sniggered and said, "Big paws too."

Tony growled and said, "Steele, if you say one more thing against Balto, I will break every goddamn bone in goddamn body!" Steele snarled and stood up, snarling, "You wouldn't!" Tony eased himself up, with the help of Evelyn, and limped over to Steele, towering over him. "If you'd seen the things I seen; felt the things I felt, felt the pain I went through, and be forever haunted by the memories…you'd realize there isn't a lot I wouldn't do," said Tony in a deathly calm voice. He then walked out of the boiler room with Evelyn.

* * *

Jenna was curled up on Rosie's bed; she hadn't moved for days, she hadn't eaten anything in a while and she hadn't gone out to see any of her friends ever since Balto had been listed as K.I.A. All she could think about since that was her and Balto's last night together. _"I should've told him how I really fell about him, now…I'll never get the chance. I…I love him," _thought Jenna, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Balto continued to limp across the plains of Africa, until he saw the most welcoming sight that he had seen since he got here; he saw his American base. He'd made it! Balto immediately broke into a sprint to get to the base as quick as he could. "IT'S BALTO! BALTO'S ALIVE!" shouted one of the soldiers as Balto ran into the base; the men cheered and petted Balto as the wolf/dog entered the dog tent. "No way; he made it!" said the Dog handler as he handed Balto a sausage, who quickly wolfed it down, and patted Balto's head and neck. "Let's get you home boy," said the Dog handler, and Balto barked happily, glad that he would be able to see Jenna soon. The commander entered the dog tent after hearing that one of the tracker dogs that was thought to be dead was alive and said, "Get that voice recorder off of him; I want to see if he managed to run into any Nazis and get some of their conversation."

The mechanic of the base, who entered with the commander, nodded and took the voice recorder from Balto's padded vest and put it onto a table; but when he opened it, a small spark ignited for a split second and a thin tower of smoke came from the recorder. "Looks like it got hit by a bullet sir; it's gonna take a while for me to fix it," said the mechanic, wedging the bullet out of the recorder, and it fell to the floor with a short _**ding! **_"Look; just fix it and get what you can from it. Meanwhile, let's get our hero home," said the commander, as he petted Balto's head; Balto was glad to be going back and to see Jenna, Boris and his other friends again, but he was also hoping that the Americans would find out of the Nazis plans through his voice recorder.

* * *

"Lieutenant, ve are ready," said a German sailor to his commanding officer. The Lieutenant nodded and said, "Good; set a course for Nome, Alaska; ze Allies von't know vhat hit them." The sailor nodded and soon, an armada of German ships were heading to Nome, Alaska; this was gonna get ugly!


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Balto was eagerly waiting for the plane he was going to board to have enough fuel to get them to Nome; he just couldn't wait to see Boris, Muk, Luk, Tony, Bruto and Buddy again; but most of all, he couldn't wait to see Jenna again. Finally, Balto's Lockheed C-69 Constellation was filled with fuel and he, along with several other humans and tracker dogs that we're travelling on this plane to get to their homes on the way to Nome, and before long, they were up in the air. They soon arrived at Juno, Alaska's capital, where he would have to catch a train back to Nome. But unknown to him, and every other Allie, the Nazis were getting closer to Nome, and were nearly at striking distance.

"Lieutenant, ve have Nome vithin our sights," said a German sailor, walking into the main desk of the boat leading the armada. The Lieutenant turned to the sailor, saying, "Good; begin the assault, but remember; only kill those who fight back. Do NOT kill civilians."

The sailor nodded and said, "Understood, sir." And with that, the German sailor exited the desk, calling, "ALL HANDS, PREPARE FOR THE INVASION!"

_Nome Watch Tower_

"Uh, Sir? Is the Navy conducting any practises tonight?" asked an Army Private, looking out to see through a pair of binoculars after spotting an armada of ships heading towards Nome. The Colonel turned to look at the Private and said, "No, there is no practise scheduled around here anytime soon; why do you ask?" The Private took the binoculars away from his eyes and he said, "That's weird; 'cause I'm seeing some of our ships not ten miles out."

The Colonel raised an eyebrow and took the binoculars from the Private; looking through them, he spotted the ships, but he saw something on the ships that sent shivers down his spine; the crooked cross, the Swastika. "Those aren't our ships," said the Colonel grimly, slowly lowering the binoculars before letting them slip through his fingers and land on the wooden floor of the watchtower with a dull _thud. _"Who are they then? The Russians? The Danish? ...The British?" asked the Private, picking up the binoculars and looking at the Colonel, confusion written all over his face.

The Colonel looked at the Private and grabbed him by the front of his uniform, saying, "Those are Nazis, idiot! Sound the alarm!" He then dropped the Private who, now terrified, ran to the radio and picked up the speaker, saying "Nazi warships 10 miles out! All units, gear up; this is not a drill!" As he shouted through the radio, bullets tore through the watch tower until the beams holding it up snapped, causing it to slowly tip to the left and crash to the snowy ground. A small puddle of crimson snow started to form from the top of the collapsed watch tower, as this was where the Private was, his mouth still open to give the warning, letting blood slowly drip from his forever open mouth.

There were only about 80 soldiers stationed at Nome, Johnson being one of them, but they were clearly outnumbered by the 2,000 strong Nazi force. Shells began crashing into the beach and close to the town, causing explosions to ring out throughout the landscape. Borris, awoken by the noise, perked his head through the window frame of the old boat and muttered, "Vhat is it?" But he ducked his head quickly when he saw some Nazis walking past his boat, guns at the ready and Swastikas wrapped around their upper arm. "Oh no! I have to varn the town!" said Borris once the Nazis had passed, and he quickly exited the boat and flew as low as he could towards the town, out of sight of the Nazis.

"Waz goin' on out there?" said Tony as he walked outside to see what all the explosions were about. "Navy doing practises or somethin'?" asked Bruto, as he walked out to look outside next to Tony. "This close to the town? Hardly; something's up," said Tony as a car sped past them, carrying three soldiers, heading towards the centre of Nome. "German's are attacking! This is not a drip; repeat, this is NOT a drill!" shouted one of the men on the car just as a shell landed directly in front of the car, causing an explosion to cover the men and car; when it cleared, the car was nothing but twisted metal and there was no sign of the soldiers.

"NO!" shouted the dogs as they scrambled back into the boiler room as one of the soldier's helmets, after being launched into the air from the explosion, landed directly in front of them. Just seconds later, hundreds of Nazi troopers walked through the main street of Nome in order, small sections of Nazis splitting off from the rest of the group and heading down other streets, making sure they would get all of the soldiers.

"Daddy, what's happening?!" cried Rosy as Johnson quickly got on his combat gear and reached for his Thompson. "Honey, the bad guys are here; I need you to stay inside and not to open the door to anyone. I need to go," said Johnson, hugging his daughter, possibly for the last time, before getting up and going to open the door. But no sooner had he put his hand over the door knot was the door kicked open and a bullet came from the door way, embedding itself in Johnson's shoulder. Johnson shouted out and fell to the ground in pain as Nazis swarmed into the house. The last one to enter was a little different to the others; he wore a black trench coat, wore a Nazi Army hat and wore a small swastika pin on the black uniform that was hidden underneath the trench coat.

"Guten Tag, American; my name is Gasthof Haning, but you can call me 'sir'," said the trench coat Nazi, grabbing Johnson by the back of the neck and pushing him outside. He was then forced into the back of a truck where all of the other American soldiers had already been captured and taken by the Nazis. Gasthof hit the metal side of the truck twice, signalling the driver to go. As the truck drove off, Gasthof said, "Check the boiler room."

Two Nazis nodded and walked over to the boiler room; when they found that it was locked, one of the soldiers shot both of the hinges and the other kicked the door down, revealing most, if not all, of the town dogs that hadn't already ran away. "Just a bunch of dogs; get Hades and Olaf!" called one of the Nazis, and not a few seconds later, Hades and another German Shepard walked into the boiler room like they owned the place, their eyes sweeping across the different breeds of dogs. "Vell, vell, vell; vhat do ve have here then?" chuckled Hades as he walked past some of the dogs, making them shrink back as far as they could, fearing for their lives. Hades eventually came to Star, who was practically shaking his fur off. "Hmm…you look like a good appetizer…." said Hades, tapping his claws dangerously on the wooden floor of the boiler room.

"Hey, German! Why don't ya pick on someone your own size?" questioned Buddy, stepping up to Hades. Hades turned his head to Buddy and demanded, "Who the hell are you?" Buddy stood taller and said, "Buddy; US attack dog," as he moved in front of Cali. "Oh, tough guy, eh?" asked Hades as he towered over Buddy, before continuing, "In that case…why don't you fight me then?"

"Youze gonna have to fight me too," growled Tony, stepping up to Hades and standing with Buddy. "And me!" snarled Bruto, standing with his two friends against Hades. Hades chuckled darkly, before saying, "You know something? I wasn't going to kill any of you because my orders are to kill only military personnel, but it seems that you ARE military personnel. What poor planning on your part!"

"Oh yea? Come get sum!" said Bruto, snarling and baring his teeth. Hades laughed and said, "How do you possible think you can fight me with your injures?" The three Army dogs hated to admit it, but the German Shepard did have a point; they wouldn't stand a chance fighting against a healthy German Shepard with their injures. "I've had it with you!" snarled Buddy suddenly, lunging at Hades, only to get clawed at the stomach and grabbed by the neck, thrown against the wall and knocking him out cold. "BUDDY! NOO!" cried Cali as she ran over to Buddy's body and cried into his fur, trying to wake him up again. "Buddy! Youze gonna pay for that, you Nazi son-of-a-bitch!" shouted Tony, before whispering to Bruto, "we have to attack together; otherwise he's gonna pick us off one by one."

"Forget it! He hurt Buddy!" said Bruto before jumping Hades, snarling. But Hades simply moved out of the way and as Bruto passed, he sank his teeth into Bruto's shoulder, causing Bruto to shout out in pain. "Bruto!" shouted Tony, lunging at Hades but only getting a swipe of a paw from Hades, knocking Tony back, knocking him out cold. Hades then turned back to Bruto and began relentlessly clawing and biting at his burns. "BRUTO! STOP, YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" cried Katie, tears pouring down her cheeks. "As you vish, lady," said Hades, grabbing Bruto by his burnt muzzle and throwing him over to Katie. "Oh Bruto…" whispered Katie, gently stroking his head, tears dropping onto the floor.

"Now, as for you…" said Hades, turning around to Tony, who was slowly coming back to the land of the living. "NO!" shouted Evelyn, jumping between the injured Tony and Hades. "Eve! What're ya doin'?!" asked Tony. Evelyn said, "Protectin' ya hon-" but was cut short when Hades swiped his paw at her, knocking her out cold. "NO! You son of a..!" shouted Tony, lunging at Hades with newly found strength and began to claw and bite Hades relentlessly. Hades had no chance against this sudden change and anger in Tony. But soon, Tony began to tire, at which point Hades landed a sickening blow to his ribs. "You've got fight in you," said Hades, spitting a bit of blood onto the floor besides Tony's head, "I'll give you that; but it vasn't enough…" as he stomped on Tony's bullet wound, and eventually, Tony passed out from the pain.

"Now…anyone else like to play hero?" asked Hades, turning around to look at the other dogs, who had just watched all of this happen; unsurprisingly, all of the dogs shrunk back even more than they did before. Sweeping his eyes across the room, Hades' eyes landed on Jenna, who was sitting in the corner. "My, my; vhat a be-autiful Husky…" said Hades, walking over to Jenna. "Get away from me, you pig!" shouted Jenna, not at all in the mood for this. Hades smirked and said, "Ohh, wild girl are ya? I like 'em wild…" Hades suddenly smelt a familiar scent coming from Jenna that wasn't hers.

'_That smell…it's that mutt from Africa…he must've been her boyfriend…perfect…' _thought Hades, smirking outwardly. "Yes, wild…just like that boyfriend of yours…" said Hades, catching Jenna's attention. "Balto?" whispered Jenna, looking up at Hades, but not in the eye, but instead, over his shoulder. "So…that _was _his name…" said Hades, chuckling darkly. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" screamed Jenna, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Ha! He tried –_tried_- to attack me after that heroic stunt of his and I sank my teeth into his neck, felt the blood ooze out of his body as the life was drained from him. As he squirm…I enjoyed every single minute of it," said Hades darkly, an evil smirk on his face.

Jenna's eyes widened before she suddenly broke down in tears, her head falling to her paws and crying into them; her love was alive, only to be told by his murderer that he was dead. "Right; gather up those pathetic excuses of military dogs; they'll be executed tomorrow, along with the other POWs," ordered Hades, and Olaf nodded, walking over to drag Bruto away when Katie stood over his body. "NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM!" shouted Katie, but she was quickly knocked out, along with Cali, and the two were thrown with the unconscious body of Evelyn. All of the dogs in the boiler room didn't dare to attack either Hades or Olaf, not even the proud Steele; even he wasn't proud enough to stand up to the German dogs.

* * *

"Sir! We got part of the message off Balto's recorder; the Germans are gonna attack somewhere in America!" a solider shouted for the Commander at the American base in Juno. "Where?!" demanded the Commander, turning to look at the soldier. "I don't know; nobody knows! The recording cuts out before it can say!" exclaimed the soldier. Balto knew where the Nazis were going to be striking, and barked to get the Commander's attention. "He must have Nazi scent," said the Commander, turning to look at Balto. He turned to the soldier, and said, "Get as many soldiers as you can, as many vehicles as you can and get them to follow that dog; tell the Navy to stay on standby as well."

"Yes sir!" said the soldier, saluting the Commander and gathering nearly 3,000 soldiers and as many vehicles as he could. "Alright boy; lead us to the Nazis," said a solider, patting Balto on the head. _'Yeah, no pressure (!)' _thought Balto sarcastically, but he responded to the solider with a bark and began walking to Nome, the Americans following behind him.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

The Nazis quickly took Nome over by force, enforcing laws and patrolling the streets every day and every night; all of the soldiers had been rounded up and put into recently constructed POW camp, while the other men that weren't soldiers, like the elderly and the cripple, were forced to cook and care for the Nazis; the women and children were told to stay in their homes and not come out, on punishment of death. The dogs had all been rounded up and locked in the boiler room, where they were feed and watered three time a day; Bruto, Buddy and Tony however, where put in rather small cages with the POW's. All the citizens, POWs and dogs prayed for the American's to arrive and get rid of the Nazi's rule.

"I will ask you one last time, American; what are your plans?!" asked Gasthof Haning, the Army Commander and the man in charge of Nome, a bloodied bronze knuckle duster on his right hand, which he used to punch the POW he was interrogating in the stomach, which would easily leave bruises later. The American POW spat some blood and a tooth from an earlier hit onto the floor next to his seat, and looked up at Haning with a black eye and blood pouring out of his nose from another few hits and said, his voice slurred slightly by the blood, "What makes you think I'll tell you anything, you pile of German crap?" So far, this particular POW had been beaten, starved, burnt and tortured to try and get information out of him, but so far, he hadn't said anything even remotely related to what the American's were planning; partly because he didn't know, and partly because…why should he tell a stinkin' German?

"This is a strong one; he isn't going to crack. Take him back to the camp," said Haning, taking off the knuckle duster and placing it on a table next to the chair the POW was tied to; also on the table, there was a couple of bloody knifes and a cold iron poker, though you could still see the remains of burnt skin covering them end. Two Nazis untied the POW and half pushed, half dragged the American back to the camp. Some of the dogs in the boiler room looked through the window that was in the side of the boiler room and they watched the Nazis carrying/push the POW back with the others.

"Those sons of a-" growled Nikki angrily, but was cut off by Kaltag, "They're the most vile, the most evil, the most brutal, the-" but he in turn was cut off by Star, who said, "They're awful!" The next moment, Kaltag smacked Star on the head with his right paw, causing the small dog to see stars and fall to the floor, before coming back up a few seconds later. Meanwhile, Evelyn, Katie and Cali were sitting together in one corner of the boiler room. "I hope they don't do anything to Tony," said Evelyn worryingly, and Katie and Cali agreed, Katie saying, "or Bruto," while Cali added, "or Buddy."

At that moment, Hades and another couple of German Shepherds entered the boiler room as their handler opened the door to let them in. "Greetings, vermin; long time, no see," said Hades, flashing his teeth dangerously, "I just thought I come to tell you all about the little show we're going to be putting on for you lot; and guess who's going to be the stars of my little show?" The dogs all knew who Hades were referring to; Buddy, Bruto and Tony. Steele eventually had it with Hades; he stood up and growled, taking steps forward until he was directly in front of Hades. "Listen to me, you worthless pile of crap!" snarled Steele, in a tone that would've sent most dogs heading for the hills; but Hades didn't even flinch, "If you think that you can treat us like that, I think that I outta teach you some manners!" Dixie sighed dreamily and said, "He's so brave…"

Hades just simply chuckled, before he face turned hard and he said, "If you say so…American scum…" before suddenly swiping his paw at Steele's muzzle, sending the Champion Dog of Nome into a pile of wooden crates, all of the smashed to pieces of impact. "Steele!" cried Dixie, rushing over to the unconscious Steele. "Any more bone headedness and you'll end up like him," said Hades, gesturing to Steele, before adding, "Now, if you don't mind, I have dogs to torture." And with that, Hades and the other German Shepherds left, but before Hades exited the boiler room, he turned to Evelyn, Cali and Katie, and smiled sinisterly, and said, "Enjoy the show," and left.

"I swear, if he does anything to my Bruto," said Katie angrily as they watched helplessly as Buddy, Tony and Bruto were brought to Hades, their paws tied together in a hog style tie. They were out of sight so the dogs couldn't see, but from their agonizing screams and shouts of pain, they didn't want to see. They could hear every insult the American dogs gave Hades, but they were soon followed by even louder screams of pain, along with Hades ever annoyed questions. After an agonizingly long ten minutes, Buddy, Tony and Bruto were brought back to their cages, and thrown into them, bloodied and bruised. "What kind of people are they?" asked Cali, horrified and fighting back tears. "Those dogs are strong; they have to be to endure that and not crack," said Jenna softly, still not entirely over Balto.

* * *

"Um, Uncle Borris, why are the bad guys here?" asked Muk, as he and Luk followed Borris quietly into Nome as the light began to fade into night; the only lights that could be seen were those belonging to the Nazi patrols walking down the streets and alleys. "Because, boychics that is what they are; Bad guys, and that is what they do," said Borris, pinching the bridge of his beak in annoyance at the two polar bears, before he continued, "Now ve need to figure out how to vork one of the human veapons and free the town." Luk stood back on his hind paws, before responding to Borris with a series of incomprehensible mumbles and grunts. Muk nodded and said, "Luk's got a question, Uncle Borris; what is the plan anyway?"

Borris sighed in annoyance, but said, "If you vere paying attention, I already said! We're going to get vne of the human veapons, vork out how to use it, and free the town!" But seconds later, Borris had been it hit over the head with a shovel and fell to the ground unconscious as both Muk and Luk were both hit in the back of the head with a pair of rifle butts. Behind the polar bears, two Nazis rested their guns on their shoulders, before a third Nazi with a shovel in his hand and his gun hanging around his back via leather straps said, "I think ve have tomorrow's supper; I heard bear is very succulent." And with that, the three Nazis began dragging the Polar Bears and carrying the Goose by the neck to the butchers.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rosy was sitting in her bedroom, looking out at the town through the window, trying to find any sign of her dog and her father; she saw no sign whatsoever of them. Even though no-one in the town was allowed out after dark by new Nazi law, Rosie couldn't help but let the curiosity get to her; she had to find her father and her dog. So, she slowly opened her window and climbed out of it. She then quickly and quietly walked across the snow, trying to avoid the Nazi patrol.

"GIRL! VHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" shouted a Nazi Officer when he spotted Rosie. "I-I'm sorry, I was just-" began Rosie, but couldn't finish as the Nazi had walked over to her and grabbed her, saying, "You are in a lot of trouble, little girl!" Meanwhile, in the shadows of a building, a POW who had just escaped spotted the Nazi Officer cornering Rosie. Even though he had just escaped, he couldn't let the Nazi do anything to Rosie; it was his job to protect citizens after all.

"HEY, HANDS OFF HER, YOU KRAUT SOD!" the POW shouted and ran over to them, punching the Officer in the face, while getting the Nazi's hands off of Rosie. "YOU DARE TOUCH ME?!" shouted the Officer, taking out his night stick and hitting the POW's wrist, breaking it. The POW was then taken back to the POW camp by the Officer, while Rosie mouthed a silent 'thank you' to the POW, before she made her way back to her house, climbed through the window, and cried softly into her pillow.

* * *

Dawn broke across the Nazi-occupied Nome, and all of the POW soldiers and the tracker dogs were all taken into one large building, where Gasthof Haning was waiting for them with several armed Nazis on either side of the room, should there be any trouble. "I vill give you two options; join us…or die," said Gasthof simply, and an uproar of protests and shouts filled the room, only silencing when a Nazi shot several bullets into the ceiling. "I'd rather eat rhino crap than join you!" shouted a bold POW, and several other POW's cheered for him, while Gasthof shouted, "Silence! You are sentenced to death!" The POW laughed mockingly and said, "Hey, I hear heaven's great these days!" All of the POW's agreed with the bold one who shouted out; they'd rather die than join the Nazis.

"Very vell, you have seal your fate; you are all sentenced to death!" said Gasthof as the POW's were taken back to their camps, while the dogs watched them leave from the boiler room; they had heard every word from the meeting. "That is just terrible; just terrible; all of the prisoners of war are going to be executed," said an elderly Husky by the name of Brain, as he had been one of the few who actually heard the entire exchange of words between the Nazis and the POW's. "No!" shouted the rest of the dogs. "It's the army comin'?" asked Kaltag desperately. "The Nazis have cut all power to Nome, and no-one can get a message in or out of the town without the Nazis knowing," said Brain, shaking his head sadly. "What about them there soldiers?" asked Nikki. Brain sighed deeply and said, "The army won't be here in time; they'll be dead if they get here."

All of the dogs in the boiler room began to cry, even Steele began to tear up but he turned around to so no-one could see he tears. Cali, Katie and Evelyn fainted upon hearing the fates of their lovers, but out of all of the dogs, Jenna was the one who was effected most of all; first she'd lost Balto, and now she was going to lose her owner. Across the street, the carpenter had been working all night and seemed that he was going to be working for the rest of the day, as he slowly sanded down the sides of a wooden box before placing it next to another few out the back of his show; they were coffins, and they were waiting to be used….

* * *

Meanwhile, Balto was leading the 3,000 strong battalion of Marines to Nome, though he seemed to be having problems; up until now, he was following his dog scent of smell towards the scent of Nazi. But now, with so much snow surrounding them, he couldn't tell the difference between a Nazi and an American scent. "Balto, which way?" asked a Marine Sargent over the howling wind and blinding snow. Balto, in truth, didn't have a clue of where to go; the harsh cold of the Alaskan winds had caused many of the men to go into hyperthermia and the supplies of gas and food was started to reach a dangerously low level. Balto had to make a random choice of direction or the all of the humans were doomed. So, he shot off in a random direction. "Come on, men! Follow him!" shouted the Sargent as they followed Balto, though it was getting harder to see as the snow was starting to fall even heavier.

Balto was running fast; faster than a dog but slower than a Wolf, as he didn't really want to lose the Marines and the only hope Nome had. But while he was thinking this, he didn't spot the cliff until it was too late; his eyes widened when he saw the cliff and he tried skidding to a stop, but the momentum carried him off and over the cliff, as a slab of snow followed him down, slowly breaking into smaller pieces. "BALTO!" the Marines shouted out, the ones at the front skidding to a stop just feet away from the cliff edge; not only had they lost a great dog, they had also lost the one chance they had of getting to Nome to stop the Germans.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Nazi Nome, Jenna, who had managed to crawl through an underground hatch of the boiler room while all of the other dogs slept and slip past all of the Nazi patrols, had a lamp hanging from her mouth; she had to find some way of signalling the Americans about the Nazi occupation of Nome, and this was the best bet she had. She trotted up a small hill that was just East of Nome, as this was where she had brought several broken bottle pieces to when she was a pup; she didn't know why, but there was something about broken bottles that she liked. She slowly placed the lamp down as to not knock it over and moved the broken bottle pieces so that the light hit them and multiple colours burst forth from the bottles. _'Portable Northern Lights,' _Jenna thought to herself as she watched the lights spread up into the sky. "Please let the Army see this," she whispered softly, before walking back to the boiler room before the Nazis and the dogs noticed that she was missing.

* * *

Back at the bottom of the cliff, Balto slowly pushed his way out of the snow he had been buried in and collapsed onto the snow in front of him, a few small cuts and bruises covering his body from the fall. Looking up, he spotted the faint colours of the Northern Lights, but these weren't the natural Northern Lights; it was a trick he had learnt and taught Jenna about. Balto now knew that Jenna was alive, but he also knew that he had no chance of getting their in time to save her and the town. "Jenna," whispered Balto, before covering his eyes with his paw and crying softly, sniffing every few seconds. Suddenly, he felt a presence of someone in front of him; slowly taking his paw away from his eyes, he spotted a pair of white paws, with short, bull, black claws. Slowly, he looked up, and spotted a pair of fierce yellow eyes and a black nose in the swirling snow that seemed to have calmed down since earlier.

At first, Balto feared that the wolf was going to eat him, but that was thrown away when the white wolf lifted its head up and let out a loud howl, letting it be heard all around. The white wolf then stopped and looked back down at Balto, as though it was waiting for him to howl. Balto's head shrunk back before he turned his head away in shame; he wasn't a wolf, he wasn't a dog….he wasn't anything. When he turned his head around again, he spotted the white wolf walking away before strangely disappearing completely, its paw prints the only thing left of its presence. It was then in Balto's mind that something clicked; he shouldn't be ashamed of his heritage…he should embrace it. The wolf has a better sense of smell than a dog did by a mile, so that would help him get to Nome!

Slowly getting to his feet, Balto spotted one of the paw prints that the white wolf had left behind and as it had walked away, and slowly placed his paw over the print; it was a perfect match. After a few seconds, he lifted his head up and howled, embracing his wolf side. He spotted the white wolf appear again from the snow, but he didn't stop howling; if anything, he just howled louder. The white wolf slowly walked over to Balto so it was standing in front of him and it joined in with the howls, the combined sounds of the two howls filling the entire valley with sound.

"Ah, crap; if things weren't bad enough, now we got wolves," muttered the Sargent on top of the cliff where Balto had fallen from. "Wait! Look!" shouted another Marine as he pointed down the cliff. Several of the Marines near the front of the convoy walked over to him and saw where he was pointing; it was Balto, climbing back up the cliff! "It's Balto! He's alive!" shouted a Marine, and the ones surrounding him cheered and helped Balto back onto the flat surface. After checking him over for injures, Balto barked and, using his wolf sense of smell, managed to find a clear Nazi scent and began running towards the source, determination in his eyes and with the convoy of American Marines following him.

* * *

As the Americans came ever closer to Nome, all of the POW's, dogs included, were all taken into their camps and lined up, with the Nazis on the other side of the building, loading the final guns and ready to kill the POW's. "Well, guys; looks like this is it," said Tony as he, Buddy and Bruto were taken to their places and saw a Nazi Officer loading a pistol. "It's been an honour working with you guys," said Bruto, as the Officer walked over to the dogs, pistol in his right hand. "Well, at least we'll get to see Balto again," said Buddy, and Tony and Bruto nodded, before they looked up at the Officer as he slowly lifted his pistol up, finger resting lightly on the trigger, ready to fire….

* * *

In the Butchers, Borris was stuck in a large cage in the back of the shop, with Muk and Luk squeezed in with him. They all had their eyes trained on the German Butcher; the Nome Butcher had been killed as he had refused to serve the Nazis. They watched as he sharpened his knifes, smiling through yellowed teeth as he made sure that Borris, Muk and Luk saw what he was doing. "Uncle Borris; what is he going to do to us?" asked Muk, and Borris sighed softly, and said in a grim tone, "Well, boychics, they're going to eat us."

"Oh, we love you Uncle Borris!" cried Luk, and Muk nodded in agreement. "I love you too Boychics!" cried Borris as the three hugged each other for possibly the last time, as the Butcher slowly walked over to them, his knife glimmering in the light….

* * *

Jenna was almost back at the boiler room and to safety when a large German Shepard came out from the alley and blocked her off; it was Hades. "And just vere do you vink you're going?" asked Hades, a sinister smirk plastered to his muzzle. "Nowhere; get the hell away from me!" shouted Jenna, trying to get past him but Hades blocked her off. "How about ve get to know each other better? I am single, after all," said Hades, smiling sinisterly and slowly walking forward. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" shouted Jenna, and she clawed at his face before sprinting off, trying to put as much space between her and Hades as possible. Hades, blind in rage and his face smeared in blood from the fresh claw marks over his eye, ran after her, slowly making up the distance between the two of them. After what seemed like hours of running, Hades had finally tracked down and cornered Jenna in a dead end alley. "You're going to pay for that little stunt of yours," he growled, before quickly pinning Jenna to the ground, and adding, "but not before I've had my fun." He then laughed maniacally, but was interrupted by a distance howl. _'That howl…it can't be…IT IS HIM! BALTO'S ALIVE!' _Jenna screamed in her mind.

* * *

"Hey, guys; do youze hear that?" asked Tony as the Officer about to shoot them became distracted after hearing the howl that Tony, Bruto, Buddy and the rest of the two heard. "Yeah…sounds like…" said Bruto, but was beaten to it by Buddy, "It's Balto! He made it!" as he began to laugh with relief.

* * *

Borris, frozen in fear as the Butcher was about to open the cage and get him out, was suddenly unfrozen and turned his head around to the window when he heard a howl. "Balto?" he whispered, and after listening again, he shouted, "Balto's back! He's alive!"

* * *

Balto stood on one of the tall hills that surrounded Nome as the sun began to reach midday. He was home, but what he saw caused his blood to boil; every couple of buildings were either in rubble or were covered in smashed windows. The Nazis had even been stupid enough and put Swastikas on some of the buildings, thinking that they owned the town for good. "Alright boys; let go get 'em. Tell the Navy to head to Nome!" shouted the Commander as the Marines started the final leg of the journey; there was blood to be spilt….and the Nazis had better leave while they still had dignity…and limbs….


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Balto howled again, strong and loud, as he stood on the hill surrounding Nome, with the Marines behind him with the vehicles behind them and some of the vehicles were in between large gaps to be visible to the Nazis who had started to look at the source of all the noise. The Nazis who looked up had fear evident in their eyes; they were in deep shit and they knew it. "CHARGE!" shouted a Marine and the 3,000 strong battalion charged down the hill with the vehicles rumbling down after them, the Marines letting out battle cries that seemed to become primal instinct when put into this type of situation. The Nazis tried desperately to pick up and aim their weapons, but they were shaking in fear, making it difficult to aim properly.

In the boiler room, all of the dogs' ears perked up when they heard shouts and commands being given quicker and in a tone of panic that didn't seem like they normally sounded. One of the dogs got up and walked to the window, looking through it and seeing Marines charging through the Nazi ranks, guns blazing and Nazis falling in a puddle of their own blood. Then, the dog spotted a blur of brown and grey fur rush past the boiler room window and sinking its teeth into a Nazi neck; it was Balto. "It's Balto; and he's with the Marines!" shouted the dog joyously, and the other dogs all shouted out, "He's Alive!" Kaltag, being Kaltag, began to say, "That is the most honourable, the most inspiring, the most committed-" but he cut off by Star, being Star, who butted in, "He's a Hero!" which naturally caused Kaltag to smack him on the head, rendering him unconscious. Outside the boiler room, the civilians who were not taking cover as the bullets began to fly, said, "It's the Marines; we're saved!"

Meanwhile, in a POW execution building, the Nazi execution squad were taking aim at the POW's, Johnson included, and were about to pull the triggers when they heard the shouts and guns firing outside. They turned to see what all of the noise was about; one of them was caught by surprise when Johnson ran up to him and punched him square in the nose, taking his gun and shooting bullets into all of the Nazis, killing them all within five seconds. "Come on, guys; it's payback time," said Johnson as the rest of the POW's grabbed the remaining guns from the dead Nazis' fingers and ran out of the building, instantly firing on the Nazis; the Nazis were now being trapped from both sides; from the front, the Marines, and from the back, the escaped POW's. "Time for some payback, fella's!" said Buddy as he, Bruto and Tony rushed out of the building they were in, despite their injures and sinking their fangs into any Nazi that was unfortunate enough to have their backs to the attack dogs.

The Nazis, at this point, soon realized that they were both outmanned and outgunned by the Marines. One of the higher ranking Nazis shouted, "Retreat!" and they ran back to the boats that they had used to get from the battleships, that needed to stay in deep water, and the shore. But before they could get anywhere near the boats that would take them to the battleships, the Battleships suddenly burst into a fireball of fire, gas and metal; some of the metal shrapnel flew towards the beach, and some pieces landed on some unfortunate Nazis; some were even split clean in two from the larger pieces of shrapnel. As the smoked cleared, the remaining Nazis saw the U.S. Navy ships bombarding the Nazi Battleships with shells, which exploded on impact while, in the air, several Nazis pointed and spotted several US Air Force planes dropping bombs on the Nazi Warships.

Meanwhile, in the Butchers, just before the Butcher could cut Borris' head off with a sharpened butcher's knife, a Marine kicked the door down and shot the two Nazis that were with the Butcher through the heart. As they slowly slid down the walls, leaving a trail of blood as they slid down, the Marine shot the Butcher, who dropped the knife and landed an inch from Borris' head, only cutting off a few feathers. "Come on, boychics! It's payback time!" shouted Borris as the Marine freed Muk and Luk from their cages and the two polar bears and goose rushed outside as, one by one, the Nazis began to surrender and beg for mercy.

Hades heard the shouts and bullets, and turned his head to look down the alley he had pinned Jenna in to see what it was all about; his eyes widened when he spotted Nazis falling to the ground as they ran, blood splattering on the floor and Nazi bodies littering the streets. He then saw several Marines rush past the alley, trying to catch up with the retreating Nazis. Hades knew that if he stayed, he would most likely be killed; and he didn't think death was good for you. So, he quickly ran down the other end of the alley, leaving Jenna in the snow. He exited the alley, but the second he did, he ran into what he thought at the time was a tree. He looked up, and saw that the tree, wasn't a tree; it was a pair of strong, furry legs; Wolf/dog legs.

"So, ve meet again American," chuckled Hades deeply, slowly getting up as both he and Balto began to circle each other at the same time. "I'm not going anywhere until you're nothing but blood and organs," snarled Balto, his claws tapping the snow threateningly. "Very vell, let's finish this," growled Hades, before suddenly pouncing at Balto…

"Sir, you have to order a surrender!" cried a Nazi as he rushed into Haning's studies. Haning got up from his chair with a start and said, "No, ve vill never surrender! Vhy should VE surrender?!" The Nazi simply cracked and shouted, "BECAUSE THE MARINES HAVE US SURROUNED AND THE AMERICAN NAVY HAD DESTROYED ALL OF OUT WARSHIPS AND BATTLESHIPS! VE ARE OUTMANNED AND OUTGUNNED, SO JUST ORDER THE SURRENDER, YOU INCOMPETENT BIG HEADED BASTARD!" The Nazi knew he would be severally punished for insubordination to his commanding officer; if he made it out alive, that is. "NO, VE VILL NEVER SURR-" shouted Haning, but was cut off mid-sentence when a bullet came flying in from the window, shattering the window and going right through Haning's chest, straight through his heart and lung and going out the other side. Choking on his own blood and with some pouring out of the corner of his mouth, Haning slumped against the wall before slowly sliding down it, before stopping at the bottom in a heap, dead.

The Nazi who had shouted at Haning turned and spotted two Marines pointing their guns at him, their fingers waiting on the trigger for the right moment. "I SURRENDER!" he shouted, putting his hand up in the air, not really wanting to die.

"You cannot beat me, American; I am the BEST!" shouted Hades as he quickly dodged an attack from Balto and clamped down onto the Wolf/dog's shoulder. Growling, Balto taunted, "Maybe you used to be!" Hades snarled in anger and back off, only to jump at Balto again and try to claw at his face, but Balto managed to kick Hades in the stomach and force him up and over him. Balto then ran; he wanted to take this away from the town. Hades snarled and, getting up from the snow, ran after Balto.

They ran for several minutes, before Balto slid to a stop just feet before a tall, jagged cliff. Hearing crunching snow behind him with his sensitive wolf hearing, Balto quickly side-stepped and Hades flew past Balto, not seeing the cliff until the last second. Hades tried to stop, but the momentum dragged him over the cliff, though he managed to grab the edge of the cliff with his front paws. "Grab my paw!" shouted Balto, going to the edge and offering his paw to Hades. But before Hades could reply, the ice that he was holding gave way and the block of ice and Hades fell down the jagged cliff face, before disappearing into the mist that was surrounding the lower half of the cliff.

_I tried to save him, but he wouldn't let me….I have to go check on the others, _thought Balto as he got up and made his way towards the town again. When he got there, he spotted the American flag being raised on a flag pole; the Marines had taken Nome back from the Nazis with no civilians being killed and the majority of the Nazis having surrendered. "THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" the crowd yelled happily as the Marines walked through the streets, the civilians lining the sides of street. "Don't thank us; if it hadn't been for Balto, we'd never found you in time," said a Marine, gesturing to Balto as the Wolf/dog walked into town. "Good boy, Balto!" the people cried as some of them rushed over to Balto and began petting him and stroking him, wanting to thank him for saving them. To Balto, it felt…strange for people that had hated him and feared him for most of his life to be suddenly stroking his back and thanking him; but that didn't mean that he didn't like the feeling.

Balto soon heard a familiar Russian-tainted laugh and looked to the sky, spotting a blur of white feathers diving towards him; he suddenly felt a weight around his neck and the feeling of feathers wrapping around his neck, and he knew instantly who it was. "Half Dog, Half Wolf; All Hero!" cried Borris as he wrapped his wings around Balto's neck. "Balto!" cried another two familiar voices and Balto saw Muk and Luk running up to him, and they hugged the life out of him. Once he was reunited with his family and some of his friends, Balto turned to see three very familiar faces.

"BALTO!" cried Bruto, Buddy and Tony as they ran up to Balto and practically tackled him, causing Balto to laugh. "Hey guys; nice to meet you too," laughed Balto, and the four of them began laughing. "We can't believe it; we thought youze were dead," said Tony, smiling as he gave Balto a pad on the back. "Yeah; it left everyone sadder than a fly caught in one of them spider webs," said Buddy, and this time, Tony didn't mind that Buddy had said that; they were all just happy to see their friend back. Balto laughed again, but there was still one Husky that was missing…

"That remains me; there's still someone who wants to see you," said Bruto, as he pointed to a Red Husky that could be spotted through the crowds of people, a coy smile on her face as she saw Balto. "Jenna," whispered Balto as he ran towards her. "Balto!" Jenna cried as she ran as fast as she could to Balto; she couldn't believe that he was alive. She tackled him to the ground, giving his face kisses everywhere she could reach on his face. "Balto, I thought I lost you!" cried Jenna, nuzzling into Balto's neck fur. Balto chuckled softly and said, "You didn't really think that an explosion would be enough to get rid of me, did ya?" Balto took a deep breath before saying the next part, "Jenna, they're something I have to tell you. I-" but he was cut short when Jenna cried, "Balto, I love you!"

Balto looked at her, shocked, but his expression soon turned to a loving one. "You do?" he asked, and Jenna nodded, a smile clear as day on her muzzle. "I love you too Jenna," said Balto as the two nuzzled each other's neck in the middle of the still cheering crowd. Balto couldn't be happier; he had the love of his life, great friends and the whole town loved him; he felt…complete inside.

"Aw, ain't that sweet darlin'?" asked Buddy to Cali who he had managed to find. Cali wagged her tail happily and gently tackled Buddy, saying, "I love you, Buddy." Buddy smiled and said, "Well, you hot dog; I love you too." Bruto and Katie looked at each other after they spotted Buddy and Cali. "I love you Katie," said Bruto as he nuzzled Katie lovingly. Katie's tail starting wagging happily and she said, "I love you too Bruto!" as he nuzzled into his neck lovingly. "Well, Eve, I think I'd better say it too; I love ya," said Tony as he looked at Evelyn. Evelyn's tail wagging happily and gently nuzzled into Tony's muzzle, saying, "I love you too, Tones."

Steele looked over at Balto; perhaps…he had been wrong about Balto and secluding him from the town. Maybe, just maybe, Balto really was a good person inside. _I guess Real Hero's wear Dog Tags, not Championship Collars, _thought Steele as he went to join in the celebration.

* * *

"And that, Michael, is the story of how my little town of Nome was saved," said an old lady dressed in a winter coat to a small boy who had a blue jacket on and had a white and brown Husky lying down next on the floor by his feet; they were in New York Central Park, and in front of the bench they were sitting on, still a large bronze statue of a dog. "Wow," said the boy named Michael, "it must have been scary." The old lady smiled and said, "Yes, it was very scary, but I had a feeling that someone would save us; and I was right."

The boy got up and the Husky that was attached to the red collar in the boy's right hand got up with the boy, and the boy asked, "Grandma, do you think Jack here could be like the wolf/dog in the story?" The old lady looked down at the panting Husky pup, and she said, "Well, maybe with training; a _lot _of training," she added with a light chuckle. Michael nodded and said, "Come on, Jack; let's train." And with that, Michael ran off with Jack, who trotted along after Michael, the collar dragging him along gently.

The old lady smiled and looked up at the statue, slowly getting up and walking to the statue. When she reached it, she gently placed a gloved hand over the metal paw, and said, "Thank you, Balto; I wouldn't be here without you." And with a light tap on the metal paw as though it was a real paw, Rosie picked up her handbag that she had left on the bench, and walked after Michael and Jack, looking at the statue of Balto one last time before she turned back and walked after Michael and Jack.

* * *

**And that is that! Sorry if you didn't like the ending; I just wanted it to be as close to the actual movie as I could. The same when with the scene with Balto and the White Wolf; I tried to make that as close to the scene in the movie as possible.**

**Anyway, if this story is popular enough and I get enough reviews, I _might _write the sequel 'Freedoms Darkest Hour, is a Soldier's Finest Hour' of this story.**

**As always, R&R. **

**Nf991**


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